


golden compass

by straythoughts (HiraethSatisfied)



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: 3RACHA rules one, Adventure, Almost drowning but not really, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Bad Poetry, Everyone Loves Bang Chan, Everyone Loves Yang Jeongin | I.N, Fainting, Fight Scenes, Fluff, Gen, Holding Hands, Hugs, Interrogation, Kingdoms, M/M, Mentioned Jackson Wang, Mentioned Jung Wheein, Mentioned Minatozaki Sana, Mentions of Blood, Multi, OT8, Political Alliances, Polyamory, Potential War, Sharing a Bed, Tags Are Hard, Violence, archer felix, ask me for clarifications if needed, bang yedam - Freeform, brief appearance of wonpil, danceracha rules another, hwang yeji - Freeform, jung hoseok - Freeform, somewhat dissociative episode, sunmi is chan's aunt, vocal line rules last
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:01:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 51,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26259835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiraethSatisfied/pseuds/straythoughts
Summary: No one else can see the seven golden threads that extend from Chan's body, so he has no answers as to why they're there and to whom they lead.
Relationships: Everyone/Everyone, OT8 - Relationship
Comments: 103
Kudos: 146





	1. it starts with this (change is coming)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to my first Stray Kids fic, and my dream of writing a fantasy/magical AU hopefully realized. Please be patient with me, as I largely have no idea what I'm doing. I hope this glossary helps you as you navigate my new world. 
> 
> **GLOSSARY:**
> 
> arowen - a common greeting in Rhulsan
> 
> Durkan - roughly translatable to heir, gender neutral, a Fancy Formal Title
> 
> Eilarna - unit in Rhulsan's army
> 
> Falrun Crater - a crater at the top of a mountain in Rhulsan used for ceremonies, especially for appointing new Firsts
> 
> grava - the essence of magical soul, like a replenishable well of magical energy within a person or thing. some have natural affinity/ability to wield it at will, but everyone else has the ability to train to use it just as well
> 
> Hireuln Stronghold - the central structure of power in Rhulsan where the Firsts and most Seconds and their families live and work, imagined somewhat like a fortress in the mountains
> 
> Hyoyu - the land/kingdom of vocal line, most of it covered in bodies of water, where anyone can try the ritual for leadership and are chosen (or not, usually) by a higher power
> 
> Miksarian expanse - a training room within the Hireuln stronghold that seemingly has no limits and many different terrains
> 
> Rhulsan - the land/kingdom of 3RACHA, heavily forested and mountainous, historically ruled by a First with advisors that are called Seconds
> 
> rulfoln - basically, a boomer (kind of like kkondae)
> 
> Trulan - another Fancy Title, for the highest rank of "general" in the army of Rhulsan
> 
> Xafyr - the land/kingdom of Danceracha, marked by arid canyons and savanna as well as partly underground, with rulers chosen in teams in an interactive competition
> 
> zahaan - loosely a good luck, but closer to "you will do well" or "i believe in you"
> 
> .
> 
> I will try to have a glossary for each chapter where it feels necessary. Happy reading!

The Dynasty of Rhulsan

_Through rolling hills_

_filled with sequoian sentinels_

_Silent witness to_

_towering mountains_

_crowned by clouds_

_So tread the tireless_

_toiling tramp of_

_Rhulsan._

_The power of its people_

_presides in thought_

_and mind_

_magic that manifests_

_in the minuscule_

_meticulous meld_

_of the intrinsic_

_and the tangible._

_But change creeps_

_upon single sovereign_

_society_

_future rule split_

_in three_

_free from_

_familial burden_

_borne by one_

_no longer._

* * *

Chan knows.

He's always known, that from the moment he'd entered the central stronghold at ten years of age, every step of his would be observed, analyzed, scrutinized. He'd known that he would spend increasing hours thinking about and rethinking and anticipating his every move, that there were scores of people waiting for him to fail, for him to take a misstep as he was groomed to take his aunt's spot in the ruling seat.

There had been a time when he thought he would crumple under the weight of expectation, let them have what they want. It would be so easy, wouldn't it? To just let someone else take the burden he'd never wanted off his shoulders. To run away from his problems, maybe to neighboring lands like Hyoyu or Xafyr, explore the rivers and deltas in the former, or the grasslands and canyons of the latter. Fantasizing about places like these would be easier than facing his reality.

It had been hard enough moving into the central stronghold of Rhulsan after his parents died, knowing that his aunt, the current ruler - Rhulsan's First - had been pushing for him to live there to take up the mantle of training under her. Some bullshit about his inevitable future role as the only child of his generation in the family. He'd never hated her, but resentment about her stance about keeping the ruling line within the family had long simmered in the pit of his belly.

It certainly doesn't help that there aren't many people in the stronghold that are around his age, and certainly no one he can relax around, or ask about the seven golden threads curling away from his shoulders that solidify as he grows older. They're not attached to his _grava_ , or the essence of his magical soul, so he isn't too worried that they'll sap away at his life force, but no one else can see them, and no one seems to believe they're there.

He'd tried to follow some of the threads, faint as they were. But inevitably, frustratingly, they'd all ended at walls, the edges of fortress, disappeared into borders he can't cross.

That is, until Jisung, and later, Changbin.

When he'd heard that one of his aunt's Seconds was bringing a nephew to the stronghold, he couldn't tell if the feeling in his chest was the hope of not being so alone anymore or the fear that he'd get his own hopes up for nothing. Still, he'd adamantly planted himself next to Sunmi in plain view as the Second entered through the imposing front doors to the entrance hall, eyes trained on the smaller figure accompanying the Second.

His first impression is that the kid is scrawny. He's obviously younger by at least a couple years, but Chan has the sudden urge to take him to the extensive kitchens and have him pick out a multiple-course meal on the spot.

The kid finally makes eye contact with him, and that's when Chan finally acknowledges something soft and glowing peeking out from under one of his long sleeves.

Golden thread, woven in patterns around the boy's fingers and palm.

Chan's shoulders and back are warm, and he looks down to make sure that yes, the soft threads hang limp between them, brighter than ever and stark against the walkway carpet as the boy comes to a stop in front of them.

"Who are you?" Chan blurts, staring straight at him.

Before the boy can do much more than blink in confusion, there's a steely voice from beside him.

" _Durkan_ Chan. You will entertain your guest elsewhere." The smile his aunt sends him is strained, and he can feel the edges of her magical aura hovering just around his, barely restrained. Her eyes flash at him and he swallows, but stands his ground until she turns her attention to the Second, a clear dismissal.

Taking this as an opportunity, Chan looks at the boy again and inclines his head, sending a thought his way gently that surprisingly, the boy lets in.

 _Let's leave these stuffy_ rulfoln _behind, shall we?_

It's raining outside, and while Chan could probably create a dry bubble for them to walk around in the gardens, he'd much rather show the boy to the Miksarian expanse toward the back of the stronghold. He starts walking, and is happy to see that the boy catches up, following him through mazes of corridors until they reach their destination.

Depth and space are a myth in this room. With every step in, they rise among the clouds until they overlook the vast central area, terrain for every sort of combat situation spread out around them. Directly across from them are the canyons, dry and cracked, riddled with hiding spots. To the left of the central grasslands is the open tundra and the depths of the ocean, cold and unforgiving. And farther to the right is Chan's favorite, the jungles and waterfalls with his favorite spots among the vast, entangled branches. Chan has never actually been sure of the extent of the expanse, since whenever anyone tries to look at the edges or the horizon, they blur and redirect attention elsewhere. But he's content to stick with his favorite spots, for combat or just to think and relax.

The boy next to him audibly gasps, the first sound Chan's heard from him the whole way here.

"You had all this hidden in a single room in the _Hireuln_ Stronghold?"

Despite himself, Chan grins. "I guess when you put it like that, it does feel even more impressive. We can explore a bit if you want."

The boy starts a little, as if he'd forgotten Chan was with him, and then coughs and offers a tentative smile. "Is that okay?"

"Yeah, of course." Chan raises an eyebrow. "Might want to tell me your name first, though."

The other smiles a little wider. "Right. My name's Han Jisung, though just Han or Jisung is better. Things you need to know about me? Probably just that I'm gonna eventually master the magic of Xafyr along with Hyoyu, which I grew up with, and Rhulsan, which I'm learning."

He has this aura of absolute confidence, almost cockiness, but somehow Chan isn't put off by it. He might be jumping to conclusions, but it feels like there's something else behind the confidence and the flash of almost challenge in his eyes, like he's determined to move beyond anyone who tries to underestimate him. It makes him wonder, about who might have told this bright-eyed boy that he wasn't enough, about what obstacles he's encountered along the way already.

"I support you," Chan says, rather than voicing any of that. "Good luck. _Zahaan_."

He's rewarded with Jisung's biggest smile yet.

Of course, he has no idea if any of his musings are true, but he already feels the desire to protect Han Jisung, even without the golden threads tying them together.

Speaking of which.

"By the way..." 

Chan really likes the way Jisung focuses his gaze on him. Perhaps it's because he hasn't felt that anyone's actually listened to him in so long, or has felt invisible for so long, but for once he feels as though he can just talk, exist openly.

"Can you see this?" he asks. He's never tried it, but the golden threads feel more visible than they've ever been, at least between him and Jisung, so he leans down to brush against it, using his thoughts to tug on it gently.

Jisung only tilts his head at him, confusion written across his face.

"See what?"

Chan's heart sinks a little. He feels his throat closing up, reminded of the times he'd asked his aunt or one of the courtiers about it and had been met with incredulity or condescension, and automatically finds himself shaking his head. He stands, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Never mind," he says. "Did you pick where you wanted to go?"

Jisung frowns. It takes him a moment, as if he's carefully gathering his thoughts, but he must decide not to press Chan for details, which makes some of the knot loosen in Chan's chest. "If you have a favorite place here, let's go there."

"Sure," Chan says, and turns in the direction of the gargantuan trees overlooking a lake, branches entangled enough to make somewhat of a giant floor. It's his thinking spot, as he likes to call it, and hopefully it'll ease the thoughts tossing and turning in his mind.

Hopefully, Jisung will stick around long enough for him to work up the nerve to talk about the golden threads that no one else can see.

* * *

Jisung does, in fact, stick around.

Chan gets to see him more than he'd thought. Jisung accompanies his relative to the stronghold more often, and finds ways to charm everyone that works within it. The staff especially come to expect that if Chan has come looking for food again, Jisung will be with him, and are only too happy to start feeding the younger boy as well.

Chan isn't sure what to make of it. He realizes, one day as they sit on the edge of the branches of the trees in the Miksarian expanse, legs dangling over the lake with the waterfall opposite them, that Jisung is his friend.

He wonders when the word became so foreign to him. He wonders if it will be hard to embrace it again.

The thought comes to him again about a year after he meets Jisung, as he sits to the left of his aunt at the head of a long banquet table and no one questions why Jisung is sitting next to him. Chan is glad for the small comfort, because even though he understands that this celebration was thrown for the peace treaty with Daesing that finally ended the war, he doesn't want to be sitting here listening to another speech in a scratchy formal outfit.

Jisung is of a similar mind, of course, because once they've finished their meals and people start mingling, he nudges Chan.

"Are all parties this stuffy?" he asks, tugging at his collar. "How soon until I can escape to my nice warm blankets?"

Chan glances to where Sunmi is, actually smiling and twirling her glass in midair. "It's not all bad, I guess."

The corner of Jisung's mouth lifts. "That's because you're too nice to say otherwise," he grins fondly. "Bet you can't find anyone more ready to skip this party than I am."

"We don't know what everyone else is thinking," Chan points out. "Maybe they're all secretly bored."

He scans the crowd anyway because he can never say no to Jisung or a challenge, and his eyes settle on a guy sitting farther down the table. He can't discern the guy's expression, but his sharp jaw and angular chin are cupped in his hand, his gaze directed out one of the windows in the hall.

"What about him?" he asks, inclining his head in that direction. "Doesn't look old enough to be _rulfoln_ age, but we could ask."

Jisung looks a little apprehensive, which Chan has learned is because he doesn't like introducing himself to people. "You think he'll talk to us? Seems a little intense."

Chan sends a little bit of calming magical energy toward him, reassuring, which Jisung allows. "No harm in trying. If he doesn't like us, we can just leave him and escape outside anyway."

Thankfully, that seems to solidify Jisung's resolve, or at least reminds him that there's nothing else to do for now. He stands, and Chan smiles as he stands with him, the two of them making their way over so that they're standing directly across the banquet table from the brooding, mysterious guy.

Up close, he's even more striking. There's a sharpness to his gaze that feels a little like Jisung's when Chan had first met him, but in a more curious than assessing way. He recognizes Chan, however, and stands to give an overly formal gesture that Chan has only seen directed at his aunt or high-ranking officers in the army, twirling his wrists around each other so that his forearms cross and his hands form into fists.

The hand that hadn't been above table level before is covered in golden threads.

It's the opposite hand to Jisung's golden one, but it's unmistakably the same pattern, and Chan finds his eyes widening, fighting the urge to look at Jisung's hand and knowing instinctively that it's glowing brighter than usual. The lingering sense of warmth between his shoulder blades return, as if it had never left after the first time over a year ago. He can't believe it.

" _Durkan_ Bang Chan." The stranger even ducks his head in a little bow, and Chan is suddenly flustered, hoping the other hadn't caught him openly staring.

"Hey wait uh, no need for all that," he says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck and trying to piece the conversation back together. "I don't really like titles."

Beside him, he can sense Jisung pushing slightly at him with his _grava_ , so he allows for Jisung to send him thoughts.

_Can we keep him?_

Chan studiously ignores him in his thoughts, and instead turns his attention to the guy curiously, who looks like he wants to say something but is restraining himself. "How old are you, actually?"

"Fourteen cycles of season." The stranger's voice is clear despite his unwillingness to drop the formal gesture.

"Relax, please," Chan says, trying not to stare again at his still-raised hand. "I'm only a couple cycles older, and I don't expect you to treat me like my aunt."

As if to emphasize his point, Jisung rests an elbow on Chan's shoulder, no doubt grinning that infectious grin at the stranger. "And I'm younger than both of you, so I'll take the blame if you decide to sneak out with us."

"You are?" The guy blinks, shock finally coloring his tone as he lowers his hands. "I assumed... Well, are you all actually getting out of here? And you want me to come?"

"Yeah, of course," Jisung says, and Chan shoots him a look that says he knows Jisung is going to gloat about it later and he won't be having it. "What do we call you?"

This time, the guy straightens his shoulders and makes an effort to look them in the eye, as if this is finally his element, and he carries his name with pride. "Seo Changbin, son of _Trulan_ Seo Minjun of the First _Eilarna_ in the _Hireuln_ Army of Rhulsan."

It's the most sure of himself he's sounded so far, and Chan smiles a little at the way it seems to bolster him. " _Arowen_ and nice to meet you. Is Changbin alright?"

The kid still seems a little bewildered, but he nods slowly. Jisung takes that as an opportunity to interject. "Call me Jisung, and call this dork Chan. Are you coming with us?"

Chan's about to admonish him, but Changbin actually laughs, and the words die on his lips.

"Sure," Changbin says. "And I'll uh, work on not being so formal."

As the three of them make their way to one of the sets of doors leading into the gardens, Changbin rounds the edge of the table to join their side closer to the windows, and Chan has to watch the threads, both of their hands connected to his shoulders and slowly snaking toward each other, entangling with a few new threads, subtle but sure.

"Chan?" Jisung asks. "You good?"

Blinking, Chan looks at him, feeling a little guilty and very aware of Changbin's eyes on him as well. "Yeah," he manages. "Let's get out of here."

He really needs to find answers instead of more questions.

* * *

Chan's hands are shaking.

It's been ten years. Ten years of learning and training and what feels like bleeding out for this day. Ten years since he'd stepped through the doors to the _Hireuln_ Stronghold and it was now that this moment had come, that he'd finally gained the approval of his aunt and her advisors, and soon, of the people as well.

But he's seen what singular leadership has done to Sunmi, the burden of the entire country on her shoulders even with people to advise her. He remembers times when he was younger, and had still tried to seek her out in order to feel some sort of kinship, but had instead found her lying in bed, or curled up on the floor beside it, no one to comfort her, no one to ease the burden.

He'd tried, once, to approach her in that state, but when she looked up at him, she was the angriest he'd ever seen her.

So he'd left it alone. Sometimes he'd sent staff or other trusted people to try and look after her, but he never got word of how successful they'd been.

He regrets, sometimes, not having tried harder.

But now is the time that he can finally take upon himself her mantle, and give her what he can of peace. And he doesn't have to do it alone.   
Chan.

There's a knock at his chamber door, and the warmth blooms against his back as he smiles.

"Come in."

Jisung pokes his head around the door first. "You decent?"

Shaking his head, Chan laughs as Changbin lightly smacks the back of Jisung's head and comes to join Chan where he's sitting against the side of his bed. "Will you ever ask that _before_ you take a look?"

"Nope," Jisung grins, easily leaning into his side. "You ready?"

Chan feels the anxiety creeping in again, chest tight. "I have to be."

Frowning, Changbin places a hand on his knee. "We were serious, you know. Whether it's accepted as official or not, we're here to help. You're not going to be alone."

This time, Chan's heart squeezes in a good way, and he manages a watery smile at him. Slowly, he places his own hand over Changbin's on his knee, and holds out a hand for Jisung, who takes it willingly, his eyes bright and encouraging.

"You're gonna do great. We're gonna do great."

It could just be the golden threads between them, but Chan thinks it's more than that which gives him confidence. He feels it building within him, the grounding sense of certainty, the still waters of reassurance and calm. Both of them extend their _grava_ toward him in gentle pulsing waves, and he allows it, letting them bolster him in mind and body, letting the knotted expanse of his chest and shoulders melt into the ground.

"Thank you," he says, opening his eyes and unsure when he'd closed them. The room feels just a little sharper in focus. "I don't know where I'd be without you both."

"Yeah, I don't know either," Jisung says, at the same time that Changbin responds, "Probably a lot worse at sparring."

They burst out laughing, collapsing on the floor, and Chan rolls his eyes, getting to his feet so that they can't see the fond smile tugging at his lips. "Alright, friendship rights revoked."

"Nooo!"

Suddenly, there are two pairs of arms encircling his legs, stopping him from moving forward, and he looks down with his best incredulous expression at the two of them giving him the best pleading expressions they can, though they only manage to look ridiculous in their formal wear, curled around his legs tightly.

Stooping a little, he pats their heads. "Alright alright, I'm not leaving without you. Now get up, children, we've got a kind of important ceremony to get to."

The two of them pretend to whine as they get up, but Changbin slings an arm around his shoulders as they exit the room, and Jisung nudges his side, and Chan feels their protective energy around him again.

They're instructed to proceed with a few guards, with Chan at the front, leading the way to the ceremonial _Falrun_ ground at the center of their territory. Forming the right thoughts in his mind propels him forward as they exit the main building and advance toward the open gates of the stronghold. He wills himself to go faster, hovering just above the ground so he can take leaps that span dozens of steps, wind tousling his hair as the first houses of the main city appear. The three of them and the guards pass dwellings where people come out to watch them pass, dense and towering forest, more towns, and finally incline into the foothills, and upward toward the peak of a volcano.

Chan has only been here once before, and never to the peak, which Sunmi had insisted was only to be used for important ceremonies. It looms above them, but Chan can tell by the jagged edges that the interior slopes downward, which is the only way he can tell it's not just a mountain. His suspicions are confirmed as he alights onto the nearest stable part of the edge and stares down into the crater, interspersed with low clouds.

On either side of him, Jisung and Changbin touch down as well, and Changbin is the first to speak.

"We can't go in, at least at the beginning, but we're still here."

"Go crush it," Jisung adds.

Chan takes a deep breath, and takes a few steps forward, willing the clouds to support his weight as he walks toward the center of the crater. Around him, apparitions start to appear at the edges of the crater, holographic representations of the people of Rhulsan, watching from a the remote safety of their homes. They're silent as Chan comes to a stop at a small elevated platform, and a similar apparition of his aunt appears in front of him, holding a small pouch.

" _Durkan_ Bang Chan."

Chan will never get over how stiff and formal it sounds from her especially, but he swallows down his discomfort and touches his wrists together, twisting his hands around each other and curling them into fists. The gesture reminds him of Changbin, and he fights down a smile. Funny how thinking of his two closest companions gives him strength even now. 

"First of Rhulsan." He keeps his head bowed for good measure.

Her voice sounds almost wistful as she speaks. "Today, you will take my place as the new rightful First of Rhulsan. It is a day you have prepared and trained for, and you will lay yourself bare to your people. Are you aware of the risks?"

He has to take a deep breath, but he nods. "I'm ready for them. I am committed to the welfare of the people. But I have one condition."

"A condition?" Sunmi's voice sounds charged, wary.

"Yes," Chan says before he can lose his nerve. He closes his eyes briefly and opens them again, turning in a slow circle to address the kingdom at large. " _Arowen_ , esteemed people. I have something to tell you. I will not take this mantle upon my shoulders alone."

There's a murmur from the assembly, people looking at each other in disbelief.

"If you choose me today," Chan continues, louder, "you will also be choosing Han Jisung and Seo Changbin. You know these men. They have helped us time and time again, with foreign relations, with shortages of resources, in other times of need. They have lent us their strength, and they are prepared to continue that work at my side."

With each word of his, he pours in not his _grava_ and magical energy, but his sincerity, which only gets easier. The people know the impact the two of them have had already, and he reminds them, appeals with only his humble, honest words and nothing else.

"If anyone has any objection to the role of First being spread to three, speak now."

Silence.

If Chan's heart was pounding before, he swears that everyone gathered can hear it now, hammering away at his throat, reverberating around his skull.

Someone starts to clap.

Then another. And another. The crater is soon filled with resounding applause, echoed with thunder in the clouds above and below Chan.

As it dies down, Chan swallows and speaks again. "I will be taking that as your approval. Thank you, people of Rhulsan. With this in mind, I call upon Seo Changbin and Han Jisung to take part in this ritual with me, to also become Firsts of Rhulsan."

He finally turns toward his companions, still standing there at the edge of the crater, and invites them in with a wave of his hand. The two of them step forward, and the clouds gather around their feet, inquisitive but not hostile. It's an encouraging sign, and Jisung and Changbin continue forward, managing to look as if they'd always had every right to do so.

The two of them come to a stop next to Chan, facing the soon-to-be-former First, who looks at the three of them gravely.

"I assume that Bang Chan has informed you both about the process of this ritual as I have instructed him, then. I will retreat to the edge of the Falrun crater. You will do well. _Zahaan_."

With that, the apparition erases itself almost too fast for Chan to catch her melancholy expression, only to reappear at the far end of the crater from the guards. The clouds swirl with more intention around the three of them, and Chan feels at the center of the universe, at its mercy, just him and the clouds and the thousands upon thousands of people waiting, watching with bated breath. His heart pounds in his ears along with the low crackling underneath his feet, or is it somewhere else? He can't tell anymore.

The sensation starts along his sternum. It's uncomfortable and prickly, and it spreads to his shoulders and down toward his stomach, then his head and legs. Soon, he can't sense anything anymore, is only partially aware of himself floating in liminal space. There's the murmur of something in the background, voices that swell to whispers and echoes, the voices of past Firsts and important people who shaped Rhulsan's history. He's caught in a whirlwind and a vast emptiness all at once, at one with all of time and space and yet just a speck among millions.

The last thing he's able to catch is the voice of Sunmi.

_I know you will do what is best for Rhulsan._

With a gasp, his eyes fly open, and he crumples to his knees.

Everything comes to him in a rush. He's still at the center of the crater, standing amongst the clouds. But where there was completely stormy skies before, the sky above is clear now, fading with the sun as it sets on the horizon.

His body is thrumming, a low buzz of constant energy. He becomes marginally aware of his knees touching two others, and looks up into the faces of Jisung and Changbin kneeling on either side of him on the central platform, who look about as exhausted as he feels. Before he can say anything, however, the apparition of his aunt appears again, with the pouch from earlier. She tugs on the string and puts her hand inside, extracting a simple silver band.

"You made it safely. Now, I will offer you the First's ring. I am unsure whether you will be able to duplicate it, but you may wish to make models of this ring and then redistribute its _grava_ to the copies. You will likely never have the need to use the entire power of the ring, so this will be a safer option."

When Chan holds out his hands and she places it in his open palm, he concentrates, gathering small bits of the clouds around them and willing them with his thoughts to replicate the ring twice. Two identical objects rise from the swirling gray mass around him and he's thankful that Jisung and Changbin follow the motion to grab them out of the air.

"Here's the real test," Chan says, sending them a wry smile. Closing his eyes, he concentrates.

At first, the essence of the ring is hard to find, as if someone had put a veil over its _grava_ , making it unreachable by any other magical energy. But Chan coaxes and wheedles, and slowly, it uncovers itself, opening petal by petal. It's a trickier process to ask it to split into three, but he's nothing if not patient, and manages to filter out some of its energy little by little, until he can feel the balance between the three. From there, it's just a matter of binding the smaller energies to the other rings.

"I can feel it," Jisung whispers. "You might've split it apart for the most part, but it feels like there's more in just this ring than the whole of Rhulsan."

Chan smiles a little, but he feels even more tired than before. "Great power and great responsibility."

"Tell me about it," Changbin agrees, still staring at the ring in awe.

"Rise, the three of you," the former First tells them. "Together, you are now the First of Rhulsan. I wish for you to have a long and prosperous era."

Reality sets in again, as the general assembly bursts into applause, and many rotate their joined wrists in a salute to the three of them. Chan gazes around him in slight disbelief as they start disappearing, signaling the end of the ceremony. Soon, it's just the three of them, his aunt, and the guards at the edge of the crater.

The apparition of his aunt turns her face toward the last rays of sunlight. "I will take my leave as well. Rest, as you've had a taxing day."

Chan slowly looks at Jisung and Changbin after she fades away, and raises a foot, trying to summon the last dredges of his energy to get to his feet. Both of them take one of his arms each, and hoist him the rest of the way, though he still clings to their support as they walk toward the edge of the crater to make their way down the side of the mountain.

"I dunno about you, but I could probably sleep for a hundred years," Chan murmurs, earning a laugh from both of them.

"You could, but I vote we eat first," Changbin says.

Jisung giggles harder. "That's because both of your stomachs are bottomless pits."

Chan's stomach growls in agreement, and the three of them nearly stumble with laughter as they reach the now-confused guards. "Either way, the stronghold is now your permanent home. So... let's go home."

He doesn't have to reach out to know how much they like that idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think, and whether it was confusing and/or what your speculations are for next chapter! Come chat with me on twitter at @hiraethstill, and be sure to support BLM, wear a mask/wash your hands, and pack a go bag for fire evacuation.


	2. it starts with this (something bigger than us)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm already behind schedule, but that's okay. Here's the vocal line introduction, as promised - happy reading!
> 
> **GLOSSARY**
> 
>   
> Bhuwyn - the central building of power in Hyoyu, much like a castle, built with many waterfalls, skylights, white and gold tiles, and patches of empty air where there should be floor. the Huio and their attendants live here 
> 
> Eyrevi - a unit in Hyoyu's equivalent to a navy, put together by volunteers local to the port city where they are stationed
> 
> Fount of Firaeh - a magical font of water in the Bhuwyn created by the first Huio of Hyoyu, with magical energy fed into it by each subsequent Huio to build upon it and seek out the best fits for future Huio. any youth of age can try entering the Fount of Firaeh to see if they are deemed eligible for Huio
> 
> Huio - loosely, a ruler, but closer to "guide" 
> 
> khoelis - the most common greeting in Hyoyu
> 
> soniri - small, glowing creatures that look somewhat like the Pokemon Manaphy, communicate solely through sensations of magical energy and help out around the Bhuwyn
> 
> Vaineu - a tradition where a new Huio, after about a week of rising to the position, tours around all the major cities of Hyoyu with a grand procession, to formally present themself to the people

The Commonwealth of Hyoyu

_Rushing rivers run_

_leading lovingly to_

_the placid allure_

_of lavender lakes_

_lingering until_

_whispering streams_

_meander to the sea_

_These greet the people_

_fleet of foot_

_who wander with the wind_

_in Hyoyu._

_Enchantment is endowed_

_with the breath_

_manifest in_

_varied veins of voice_

_the most joy in_

_strains of song_

_sung unrestrained._

_Recur the ritual_

_of daring youth's descent_

_into fountain_

_that crowns_

_only rightful rule_

_from the sum knowledge_

_of hundreds past._

* * *

Seungmin doesn't know what to make of him.

It's the sixtieth time in thirty-two days that someone has come to contest for the rite of passage to a ruling seat, and frankly, he's tired. Some rumor had been going around lately that a change in leadership was coming, and so it seemed like every youth that needed an excuse to "claim their calling" or whatever had decided to step up to the plate. But once met with the actual prospect of submersion into the Fount of Firaeh, a couple of them had actually turned tail and slunk away.

This one, though.

He's smaller and younger than the others, but doesn't exude even a fraction of their cockiness. Still, there's a sort of quiet gravity in the just-barely-there smile and the look in his eyes, that takes every small detail in.

" _Khoelis_ , _Huio_ Kim Wonpil and _Huio_ Kim Seungmin. My name is Yang Jeongin," he says, adjusting his cloak. "It's taken me a while to gather the confidence to come here, but I am determined to enter the Fount."

Seungmin doesn't quite know what compels him, but he rises from his midair spot next to Wonpil and several _soniri_ , and descends to the tiled floor of the second-storey hall, humming a little tune so that the thin sheen of water flowing across the floor dutifully parts around his sandals. This way, he's directly facing Jeongin instead of looking down at him.

To his credit, Yang Jeongin stands his ground as Seungmin tilts his head at him.

"And you, like fifty-nine recent others, will absolutely, certainly succeed? I'm genuinely curious." He doesn't mean for it to be curt, but he wonders if this one will really be any different, or another waste of time. For some reason, he doesn't want to be disappointed by those intelligent eyes.

"You could say that I'm tired of waiting around for things to happen to me," Jeongin murmurs, averting his eyes.

Huh.

Wonpil touches down next to Seungmin, also humming. "It's kind of our duty to let every challenger try it," he points out placatingly, which Seungmin can't exactly argue with. "Shall we?"

Seungmin fights down a sigh and nods, turning to dismiss the _soniri_ with a short melody instructing them to reconvene later. As they disperse, he turns back to Wonpil and Jeongin. "After this, we should consider a limit on the number of challengers."

Neither of them respond, but Seungmin doesn't bother to wait for an answer, instead moving past Wonpil to the edge of the suspended central floor, stopping before the empty space between it and the wall of gilded doors that wrap around the edges of this level of the _Bhuwyn_. Their footsteps echo behind him as he sings a liquid bridge of out of the sheen of water that closes the gap between the main floor and the opposite balcony and steps on.

As Wonpil and Jeongin gingerly step onto it as well, Seungmin holds a note steady and slowly changes its pitch so that the platform descends, taking them down to the ground floor. There are floors beneath this one, but what they need is behind the room that greets people at first entrance to the _Bhuwyn_.

The three of them pass through sheer golden curtains toward the back of the entrance room, and descend marble steps flanked by pools of water. The room is lined with soaring pillars, interspersed with empty alcoves, but the main event is at the center of the room.

Low golden steps lead up to the pond, which looks deceptively shallow at first. Lotuses float freely on the surface of the water, which casts a soft reflection over the walls. It's simple, but it catches the eye even after all the times Seungmin has been here recently. The entire room is the kind of place where one feels the need to speak in hushed whispers.

Seungmin has heard stories about when past _Huio_ had forced every youth in Hyoyu to enter the Fount, and even if the sudden surge in interest in ruling Hyoyu is annoying, he's glad they can at least choose of their own volition. Still, he'd much rather get back to important business like oh, running an entire commonwealth, so he gestures Jeongin forward without much pomp or flair.

"Go ahead, it's all yours."

Jeongin nods and takes a step forward, but pauses. "There's no other prerequisites? Just entering?"

"All the current _Huio_ have to be present," Wonpil shrugs, "but we're already here, so you're good."

Nodding mutely, Jeongin continues forward, and removes his sandals at the base of the steps. Seungmin watches as he ascends to the rim of the Fount, and stands at the edge of the water. There's a measured carefulness about the way he gingerly puts one foot underneath the surface, finding purchase on the first of more steps leading down into the depths. Slowly, he descends the steps, until his waist is fully submerged, and then his shoulders, and finally, the tips of his hair disappear underneath the surface with hardly a ripple.

The entire room seems to hold its breath.

Seungmin doesn't remember feeling this anxious about any of the recent candidates, but even the reflections of water on the walls seem to slow to a stop. The lotuses floating in the water still, and the silence is almost deafening.

A minute passes where absolutely nothing moves. Then another, and another.

There's an almost crawling sensation along Seungmin's skin, but he forgets to be disappointed, instead wondering whether he should interfere. But he slowly becomes aware of a trembling beneath his feet, and something catches in his throat.

The surface of the water starts to bubble and boil, and something lights it up from within. The thin membrane of a golden bubble breaks the surface, rising further and nearly blinding them. Both Seungmin and Wonpil take a step back and shield their faces as the rest of the golden bubble rises out of the water, the petals of a giant lotus spread out underneath it.

At the center of the bubble sits Jeongin, legs crossed and eyes closed, absolutely serene and oblivious to the chaos outside. Two koi fish made entirely of silver light leap out of the water and circle around the lotus holding the bubble aloft.

Two things happen at once.

First, a shockwave of energy shoots out in all directions, and Seungmin, as he stumbles backward, knows instinctively that it will reach the farthest outskirts of Hyoyu, and alert the people to Jeongin's ascension to Huio.

Second, Wonpil crumples to his knees next to him.

Seungmin turns to him in concern, but Wonpil holds up a hand, making him pause. He watches for a moment, and gasps as he notices small tendrils of golden light seeping out of Wonpil's body. They curl away in wisps along the floor, escaping toward the Fount and disappearing into the golden bubble. Wonpil falls forward a little more, until he's supporting himself on his elbows, panting heavily.

Seungmin doesn't know what to do. He gets the distinct sense not to meddle with whatever is happening, but Wonpil has been Huio since before Seungmin, and he doesn't want to stand around as his friend gets hurt. He sinks down to one knee to help, but the shaking of the room stops, and Wonpil stills as well. Looking up, he catches the moment when the golden bubble comes to a rest on the edge of the Fount, melting back into the water slowly as Jeongin opens his eyes.

He turns to where Seungmin and Wonpil are kneeling on the floor, and his eyebrows furrow in concern as he takes a step down the stairs, and quickly crosses over to them, kneeling as well.

To Seungmin's surprise, he doesn't ask whether Wonpil is okay, but simply waits for the man to slow his breathing down and sit back on his heels, his back straightening as he looks Jeongin in the eye.

"So... that's about it, then." His voice is unsteady.

Jeongin nods grimly, his face pinched in remorse. "For what it's worth... I didn't choose any of this. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Wonpil shakes his head and takes a deep but shaky breath. "You're right in that it's neither of our choice to make. I'll step down without regrets, to be honest."

The younger man frowns deeper, but nods again, slower this time. "Thank you for all you've done for Hyoyu."

Wonpil lowers his head as he stands, and both Seungmin and Jeongin stand as well. It takes him a moment longer, but he gathers his words eventually. "Take care of it for me," he says, voice thick, and turns to Seungmin. "I will be moving out tomorrow."

Without another word, he turns toward the exit and leaves.

Seungmin watches the curtains as they flutter shut behind him for a minute, and then turns to Jeongin, who has an unreadable expression on his face.

"Well," he says. "You're now _Huio_ , then."

It feels awkward and stilted, but Jeongin meets his gaze steadily, trying for a small uncertain smile that feels jarring in the moment. "I am," he says simply. "I'll... do my best not to disappoint you."

Seungmin blinks. Jeongin hadn't said Hyoyu, he'd said _you_. As in, Seungmin. They'd never met before today, so Seungmin fails to see why his opinion would be particularly important, but here Jeongin is, with his quietly earnest demeanor, and it's honestly... adorable.

A slow smirk grows on Seungmin's face, and he leans forward to poke Jeongin's shoulder. "We can give you a test or something," he says. "If you wanna further prove yourself."

Jeongin instantly recoils, and swats Seungmin's hand away, almost instinctively. "What? That wasn't enough for you?"

He's surprised into a laugh at the hint of feistiness in Jeongin's tone. "You don't want another challenge?" It's surprisingly easy to relax into banter, even with the lingering feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Jeongin raises an eyebrow. "It'll be enough to announce to the entire commonwealth that their beloved _Huio_ Wonpil was replaced with some scrappy kid."

Seungmin decides he doesn't really like the self-deprecating tone in Jeongin's voice, and loops an arm around his shoulders, guiding him toward the curtains as well. This time, Jeongin allows the touch, albeit reluctantly. "We all know there's always a chance of this happening. He's not going to blame you, and Hyoyu will accept it too."

Jeongin is silent after that, and Seungmin decides it's probably better to leave him to his thoughts.

* * *

The stares are palpable.

After Jeongin takes a week or so to settle into his new quarters in the _Bhuwyn_ , and to get better acquainted with the actual duties of _Huio_ , they undertake the customary _Vaineu_ , essentially a tour around the main cities to show the new _Huio_ to the people. Seungmin can tell he's nervous about it, especially through his magical energy, but hums gently toward him to offer encouragement.

Jeongin is still slow about letting him in, but Seungmin takes it as a good sign that he latches onto the comfort today, as they move across the canals with some of the _soniri_ trailing behind them, keeping up a steady chorus to move the caravan forward. Jeongin had insisted that he move and walk of his own volition, in front of the caravan, and Seungmin hadn't been about to let him face the people alone, so they keep ahead of the procession, trying to greet as many people who emerge along riverbanks and peep from windows or rooftops to watch.

Most of the people are respectful, some smiling at them in encouragement, and Seungmin tries to latch onto their warmth. But his eyes are continuously drawn to the few that have carefully neutral expressions, or the ones whose _grava_ plainly display distrust. He doesn't remember many people feeling that way at his own _Vaineu_ , or perhaps Wonpil had shielded it from him, drawing his attention elsewhere. However, Seungmin thinks that Jeongin deserves to know the opposition as well as the support, so he doesn't do anything about it, just nods politely and moves on.

To his credit, Jeongin doesn't show any outward signs of nervousness, even if he notices. His smile is wide and sincere - one of his most charming points, Seungmin has come to learn - and Seungmin swears he can see some older ladies cooing to each other about how adorable he is in one of the windows. That might pose a problem if Jeongin wants to be taken seriously, but they can cross that hurdle when it arises. For now, he quietly marvels at Jeongin's composure, and keeps his eyes peeled for more hostility.

It's only when they reach the farthest large city along the coastline from the _Bhuwyn_ that things go awry.

Seungmin has been sending feelers out into the audience to gauge the auras they've been putting out, because he's slowly felt more paranoid about the hostility emanating in small but consistent quantity since they'd set foot outside the _Bhuwyn_. Surely it can't all be because Jeongin had stepped up and Wonpil had stepped down. His senses are tingling far beyond that now.

He feels two insistent _grava_ at once. One is actively trying to shut down his communication with it, and the other is insistently trying to get his attention.

He chooses to focus on the one trying to get his attention first, and turns, trying to find the source of the music, a powerful and urgent voice singing to him out of the crowd. His voice is rising amidst the roar, trying to pinpoint Jamie's tremolo from behind the caravan, approaching rapidly.

Sure enough, she hurtles to a stop in front of Seungmin and Jeongin, nearly materializing out of thin air and catching her breath.

"Jamie?" Seungmin asks, stepping forward to grip her shoulders. Jeongin joins them, looking concerned as the noise of the crowd falls to something quieter.

"Sorry," she says shortly, chest heaving. "There's no time. Turn the entire procession around, or call in the _Eyrevi_ stationed at the port here. There's been floods, and we're almost certain they're not natural."

Seungmin's eyes widen and flick toward the crowd, something sinking in his gut. "In how many cities? Have your people been looking for who might have caused it?"

Jamie nods, and straightens back up as she catches her breath. "I don't know if _Huio_ Jeongin..."

There's a commotion in the crowd to their right, and the ground beneath them trembles, much more violently than a week ago when Seungmin had stood by the Fount of Firaeh. He hums frantically, scanning the topography of the area and extending his reach to the coastline, where he can sense some sort of large _grava_ influencing what feels like the water of the ocean. It's too murky to tell, as if something is cloaking it, and Seungmin grits his teeth and turns to Jeongin and Jamie.

"Do you feel that?" he asks.

Jeongin has his eyelids squeezed shut, but he opens them, his eyes flashing.

"I've got this."

Seungmin suddenly has a bad feeling. "Got what?"

But Jeongin trills a singular note and extends his hand downward. A wooden flute rises from the canal and settles into his waiting hand. He takes a step forward, changing his pitch, and suddenly he's weaving through the crowd, flashing past the line of houses in the direction of the coast.

"Jeongin!" Seungmin calls, but Jamie holds him back.

"I'll go after him. Stay here and guide the people."

As much as Seungmin hates to admit it, she's right. The ground is still trembling, and the onlookers are starting to grow panicked, moving away from buildings and pulling children along so that they don't get hurt by falling debris. He grits his teeth, whistling something low to send a message to others that work for the _Bhuwyn_ to spread the message to officials in other cities. Hopefully they'll be able to defend smaller pockets until he and Jeongin can get there.

Beyond the audience, in the direction that Jeongin had gone in, there's another sound, building above the rest. It's a roar, growing in volume, inevitably coming closer. It doesn't take more than a low purr for Seungmin to leap into the air, climbing in leaps until the houses below him are the size of toys, and he can see the ocean clearly.

What he sees nearly makes him stumble in midair.

There's a wall of water rising from the ocean, steadily bearing down on the beach. He can't see the source, but it's not natural, like Jamie had said, and he's seized by the thought that he can't let it reach his people, or their homes. His body moves on instinct, and he extends his hands toward the ground, concentrating as he begins a song, something he's never had to use before. It wells out of him in protective waves, almost desperation, coaxing the earth to work with him.

Fortunately, it seems to listen. The ground slows its shaking little by little, until most of the sound comes from the wave of water, which is out of his control for now. Instead, he focuses on what he can control, which is slowly poking its way through the ground a safe distance from the houses at the outskirts of the city. Drifting closer, he wills the golden sheen upward, straining with the effort until the shield reaches far above the height of the wave. The wave bears down further, however, and he desperately sings a run that rises rapidly until he's nearly screaming. The edges of the shield shoot out sideways, racing the increasing width of the wall of water. In a burst of energy, it finally wraps around the ends, enclosing the entire wave as it crashes against the barrier.

Seungmin doesn't know if he has much left in him for the moment. But he manages to hold his ground, bracing his entire body against the onslaught. He squeezes his eyes shut as he sings, feeling as though the world is shaking, or is that just his body? He can't tell the difference any longer.

Slowly but surely, however, everything slows.

When he finally regains his senses, he slowly opens his eyes and snaps his head upward. The wall has run out of momentum, the water receding slowly until it retreats into the sea.

Gradually, he lowers his arms, his voice rough around the edges as he summons the dregs of his energy to sink back to the earth, right onto the banks of the canal where their caravan still stands. The people part for him, and a few of them send their voices gently upward, cushioning his jerky fall until he's lying down.

" _Huio_ Kim Seungmin," someone says, voice hushed. "Thank you for saving us and our homes. Please let us lend you our energy."

Seungmin slowly struggles to sit up, feeling drained. There are concerned faces around him that he tries to acknowledge individually through his disorientation, but he gives up on trying to pinpoint the voice and just nods instead.

He can make out some of them joining hands around him in a loose circle, and someone starts singing something softly, joined with other gentle harmonies. Their _grava_ combines in soft pulses, asking Seungmin to sink into their warmth, and he's too tired to fight it even if he wanted to. He lets it wash over him, and feels the fibers of his being stitch themselves back together, warm and energizing.

Gradually, he feels human again.

He sits up a little, and is able to get to his feet, rolling his shoulders back and smiling at everyone around him. "Thank you everyone. I'm really grateful to you all."

Briefly, he wonders if they'd do the same for Jeongin, and that thought stops him cold.

Jeongin had bolted after they'd determined there was a threat, and since Seungmin can't see Jamie anywhere, he assumes she'd gone after him.

"I..." His thoughts aren't forming properly, but the people around him look at him respectfully. "I have to find Jeongin."

He doesn't wait for an answer, ducking his head and turning. He's already humming, finding himself at the nearest rooftop to gauge the closest path to the ocean within seconds, and taking off over buildings as he seeks out Jeongin's _grava_ , faint but clear some distance away along the beach.

Seungmin's heart hammers with urgency as he spots figures near the cliffs to the south. He isn't too worried about Jamie, but he has no idea about Jeongin's capabilities in terms of magic. Seungmin had been immediately able to pick up that he's smart, cunning and clever with his words, and of course he has that eager and earnest charm that had served him well as he steadily took to learning more about his role within the _Bhuwyn_. But Seungmin's never seen him use his magic against someone else, or even raise his voice at anyone, and the added uncertainty along with the rest of Hyoyu being in potential danger grinds at his nerves.

He hurtles to a stop in midair as he draws closer, assessing the situation before he swoops in rashly.

There's a body lying at the edge of the surf, which must still be alive since there are thick ropes bound around its entire frame. Another person lies closer to the trees at the base of the towering wall of rock, struggling as half of his body is encased in stone. Seungmin notes a couple more along the base of the cliff, in various states of indisposition, but his gaze is drawn back to the four figures engaged in combat, ankle deep in surf and sand.

Jamie must be trying to conserve energy, because she has one of her knives in hand instead of controlling it through the air, and Seungmin can't tell if she's using her voice or not. As he floats closer, he can tell she's already scored hits against her opponent's cheek, and has torn a sizable gash in his leg. She twirls out of his grasp, and it's not pretty, but Seungmin knows she's more about practicality than flashy moves anyway, and it looks like she has it under control.

That leaves Jeongin. Seungmin turns his attention there, and it takes him a few seconds to register what he's seeing as he slowly sinks to the ground to give his voice a break.

Jeongin and his opponent can barely be seen, whizzing through the air around each other and reappearing just out of each other's reach. It's hard to tell who's who, but Seungmin thinks he sees a flash of Jeongin's little half smile through it all, which must be a good sign. He can't follow their movements, but suddenly, one of them zips backward into the air, and dives back in, tackling the other to the ground. The sand rises around them in a cloud, obscuring their bodies until it slowly settles.

Jeongin has his knee pressed against the person's chest, trying to get a hold on their arm. Seungmin recognizes the attempted move faintly, knowing that it would hyperextend or even dislocate the arm. At least he has the sense not to kill needlessly. But the guy wrestles against it and recovers from the initial shock that had made his voice falter. He lets out a strange, high keening noise that sends a small shockwave directly into Jeongin’s body, making him fly backward several feet. Jeongin is quick to scramble upright, conjuring his flute from the sand again and putting it to his lips all in the same motion. He trills a few notes with his feet planted in the sand.

The wet sand springs to life, crawling up the man's legs and dragging him down, long tendrils that solidify. The man struggles to take a step forward, but new tendrils spring from the sand, answering Jeongin's flute eagerly. It's visible how much harder it gets for the man to keep his body upright, and he sinks to one knee, trying to say something as the sand closes around his mouth.

Jeongin lowers the flute, just humming enough to keep the sand working its magic, and walks forward calmly until he can reach out and touch the guy's forehead. He pushes it back, and in one swift motion, strikes him right next to his Adam's apple. Even from a safe distance away, Seungmin can see the man's entire body slump forward until he's lying prone on the sand, out for the count.

As he straightens to his full height, Jeongin stares down at the body for a moment, breathing hard. There's a large rip in his cloak, and a few cuts on his face along with his hardened expression, but unexpectedly, it's kind of attractive.

Seungmin blinks, unsure what to do with that information, but fortunately, he doesn't have to think about it for too long, because Jeongin looks up to find him staring, and his face breaks into a sheepish smile.

"Er... How long were you standing there?"

It's such a stark change from the demeanor that he'd had just moments before that Seungmin is startled into a laugh. "Oh, I dunno, a while." He draws closer, and it finally strikes him that they should probably help Jamie out. "Jamie?"

Both of them look around, but Jamie is contentedly sitting on top of the body she'd taken down some distance away, fiddling with one of her knives. Seungmin and Jeongin blink at each other, then start to grin as they go over to join her.

"Took you long enough," Jamie says, without looking up.

"Ah, I'm sorry," Jeongin says quickly, ducking his head a little. "His fighting style was kind of strange, and it took me a while to adjust. I know that's no excuse, though."

Jamie's hands pause on her knife, and she sheaths it before finally meeting his eyes. "You say that, but you were able to keep up just fine. Don't sell yourself short." It almost seems as though she'd been about to add something on, like kid, but she stops herself and raises an eyebrow instead. "Where are we going to hide the bodies?"

"You didn't kill them, right?" Seungmin asks, frowning.

She laughs. "Course not. But we're keeping them, right?"

"We have to, don't we?" Jeongin says slowly. "Especially if it was true that there were other incidents at the same time. And if those are still happening..."

Seungmin clenches his jaw. "I spread the word to other cities, but I get the feeling we'll have more cleaning up and rebuilding to do than anything. If other cities were able to defend themselves, that is. We'll try to get to each city as quickly as possible."

Jamie nods grimly as Jeongin wrings his hands. "I hope no one's hurt," he says, his brows furrowing.

Seungmin doesn't know what to say to that, because it's very likely that they'll be met with destruction and chaos, but he hopes so too, and nods.

"At any rate, there were only about six people here, so let's hope it was about the same everywhere else." He holds out one hand to Jamie and offers the other to Jeongin. "Ready?"

Jeongin blinks at it, and unfortunately, Seungmin might be done for. "For what?"

"You both expended more energy than I currently have, so I'll nudge us all to the next city with the wind. It'll take the least effort and magic."

"Right," Jeongin says, and averts his eyes a little as he takes Seungmin's hand, with a tiny smile that's almost shy. _Interesting_. Seungmin might have to probe at that later, but instead he focuses on the hands in his, palms rough and calloused. Humming softly, he extends his _grava_ toward both of them, and they welcome it, allowing the three of them to rise off the ground.

They're probably not ready for what they'll see, but they have no choice but to see it all.

* * *

He hadn't been ready.

Seungmin can still see it all in his mind, city after city with rows of demolished buildings, years of effort razed to the ground. Rows upon rows of terrified faces looking to him for support. When they'd checked in with officials in each city, the answers had been the same - that the culprits had gotten away, and varying answers as to whether they'd seen them at all.

Sure, they've already made significant progress in rebuilding over the course of the week, and not having to bring in resources from scratch and mending the broken bits back together had helped with numerous buildings, but Seungmin can't shake the feeling that it was all his fault somehow. He wished he could've been there in every city, a few steps ahead, able to protect all of his people at once. Maybe he should look into divining magic or cloning magic to see if there's an option for the future, but he knows that neither are likely to be possible.

Sighing, he nestles further into the arm of the couch, drawing his knees closer to his chest and feeling further guilt about not doing anything to help while he can't fall asleep.

Something gentle but insistent prods at him, and he thinks he recognizes the magical energy, but he can't be sure. He tries to pinpoint where it's coming from, however, and finds that whoever needs his attention is right outside his door.

He considers the idea of putting on better clothes, but decides it's not important and stands to pad across the room to the door, pulling it open to find Jeongin in the hallway.

"Do you mind if I come in?" he asks, in a rush as though he'd already assumed Seungmin would say no.

Wordlessly, Seungmin steps to the side, letting Jeongin walk past him so he can close the door. When he turns back around, Jeongin is looking around at the space, at the fountain and the low couches and beyond that, a more personal space with Seungmin's bed and some other comforts.

He has no idea why Jeongin is here, but it must be important if he's decided to bother Seungmin this late. Maybe the best way to approach it is to ease himself in.

"You know, your quarters look almost exactly the same as mine," he says, grinning a little.

Jeongin shakes his head. "Yours feels more lived in, with your aura everywhere and such. Mine feels... big and empty."

Seungmin can relate, honestly. But of course, he can't help milking it for all it's worth. "So... you came here for cuddles, then?"

"What? No, no," Jeongin says, almost alarmed, and Seungmin has to laugh. He's absolutely adorable, waving his arms as if he can ward Seungmin off that way. "You've bothered me enough in the past two weeks."

"When you say it like that, I just want to bother you more," he grins, but he's too tired to start poking him or anything right now, and fights the urge by moving past Jeongin to sit on the couch again. "But I can do that tomorrow. What's wrong, huh?"

Jeongin hesitates for a moment, but sits next to him after an expectant look, smoothing his hands over his pants. He takes a moment or two longer to gather his thoughts, and then speaks, not meeting Seungmin's eyes.

"I feel... guilty," he starts. "About all this. I didn't expect that it would start the day of the _Vaineu_ , and I'm almost sure that some people... Well, they probably blame me for it." He grimaces. "But then, I also feel guilty about feeling guilty and not doing as much as I can to help. I know I'm new but I feel like a weak link. It's almost like whoever this enemy is, they waited specifically for when I became _Huio_ or for something similar to attack. I guess... it's unrealistic, but I wish I could've done everything at once to make sure more people were safe."

His hands are balled into fists on his thighs, like all of this is really hard to say, and Seungmin wonders if he's more the type to bottle things up than talk about them. It must have taken a lot out of him to come here and talk to Seungmin about it then, and he's determined to protect him, though from what he doesn't know.

Instinctively, he sits up, watching Jeongin carefully until the other looks up at him. He looks worried, swallowing visibly as he waits for Seungmin to say something. But Seungmin just holds out his arms, and gathers Jeongin to his chest. He doesn't know what compels the other to allow it, considering he's resisted all of Seungmin's affection before, but perhaps he senses that they're both going through the same thing and that they should have already talked to each other about it before.

"Because you said that, I feel brave enough to say that I feel almost the same way. I was just thinking about not being able to be in every city, protecting every person.” He exhales softly, his breath ghosting across Jeongin’s hair. There's a soft touch at his waist, and then the other is wrapping his arms around Seungmin, shaking a little.

“But you've done so much for Hyoyu already. Do you think...” He pauses, and Seungmin already feels his heart breaking. "Do you think they'll ever accept me too?"

Instinctively, he squeezes Jeongin tighter, and then holds him at arm's length, trying to muster all the gravity he can into his gaze. "They will," he says, and it sounds even more vehement than inside his head. "How could they not, when you work so hard and put your all into everything? Not to mention that even your smile is enough to make someone's day. I've only known you for a couple weeks and I already want to keep you around as long as possible."

As he says it aloud, it rings more true than he'd expected. He's seen it in all the little moments, in the focus of Jeongin's gaze as he listens to _soniri_ or watches him smile and greet Jamie, or the care and cheerfulness with which he gives all his attention to every small detail. Seungmin doesn't know when he'd gotten so attached, and in such a short amount of time, but he's so certain that if everyone in the kingdom got to meet Jeongin just once, they would have to agree. 

In front of him, Jeongin's expression wobbles, and Seungmin's heart leaps into his throat, worried that he'd said something wrong. But his chest relaxes a little as a small, tentative smile spreads across the other's face, something grateful and hopeful all mixed into one.

"You really think so?"

"I know so," Seungmin nods, grinning in return and dropping his hands. "Or would you rather I annoy it into you by reminding you every day?"

Jeongin snorts, sounding surprised even as he shakes his head. "Please don't do that."

"No promises."

They smile at each other for a moment, and Seungmin is struck by the dim lights glancing off his cheekbones, and the way his lips turn up at the corners. He might be staring a little, but can anyone blame him?

Jeongin clears his throat softly, rubbing at the back of his neck.

"This brings me to a... slightly awkward proposition that you probably won't let me live down."

Seungmin raises an eyebrow expectantly.

"Do you mind if I just... sleep on the couch in here or something?"

Seungmin feels his grin back in full force. "Now then, why would you do that when there's a perfectly good bed right there?"

"Isn't that yours?" Jeongin says, stumbling over his words. "I'm not about to--"

"Nope, we're sharing," Seungmin says cheerfully, grabbing his hand and tugging him in the direction of the bed. "I can even get you a separate blanket if you want."

"Er, that won't be necessary..."

Seungmin hums happily as he slides under the covers, which dims the last couple of lights he'd left on, and is glad when Jeongin makes no further protest, crawling into the other side. They're not touching, but it's comforting, having him there. The bed feels less cold, and his thoughts less frantic than earlier. He finally feels like shutting his eyes.

Something nudges at his little finger, and he blinks his eyes open, turning his face a little as Jeongin's pinky links with his own. He's looking at the ceiling with that expression that Seungmin's come to realize is just him gathering his thoughts.

"Thank you," he says simply.

Smiling, Seungmin turns his head away again and closes his eyes.

"You're always welcome here, Jeongin."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In light of recent SKZ-related events, please know that I am here should you want or need someone to talk to. Take care of yourselves, and let's get hyped for comeback and important birthdays soon!
> 
> Feel free to chat with me on twitter at @hiraethstill. Remember to support BLM and wash your hands, and if you're in the fires like me, pack a go bag and practice self-care.


	3. it starts with this (forces unseen)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello... Sorry for the extremely late update. I can't promise you a regular update schedule because I've never posted something in chapters rather than finishing the entire thing first. A ginormous thank you to Amanda for being my sounding board and helping me flesh out ideas. Thanks for being patient and enjoy Danceracha. 
> 
> **GLOSSARY**
> 
> Rauldiya - a ruler of Xafyr, lumped together as a unit of multiple people
> 
> Uralx - a giant, Giant, tentlike structure that spans the top of a mesa, and hosts the public-facing venue and events for the central seat of power. rocky stairs lead down from the entrance on either side, and around the back is the entrance to the inside of the mesa, which is the living quarters and business quarters of the Rauldiya and courtiers
> 
> Ur Lyxau - the aboveground or surface levels of Xafyr, which is more public-facing places such as common areas and shops, more than residential dwellings, which are mostly underground. also includes balconies or caverns carved into the sides of canyons which rise in tiers, and is nicknamed the 'xau by locals 
> 
> Xiyanu - loosely, "you've done well," or congratulations with a focus on the acknowledgement of the hard work put in
> 
> Yeonsyn - a dance magic tournament held every year in Xafyr to determine the Rauldiya for the upcoming year. participants cannot enter as individuals, but as partnerships or teams

The Republic of Xafyr

_Where there are_

_arid canyons_

_carved between_

_caverns_

_calling curious candid_

_challengers_

_into their depths_

_a second serving_

_of the surface world_

_underneath_

_therein witness_

_the willful laugh_

_the skillful leap_

_and perseverance_

_of the people_

_of Xafyr._

_Magic manipulated_

_in the soulful pounding_

_of foot_

_the flick of a wrist_

_the bat of an eye._

_Unseen evil_

_suspending threads_

_from ill-intentioned_

_fingers will_

_from end to end_

_result in unrest._

* * *

This will be the year. It has to be.

Minho can feel the growing thrum of the crowd underneath the soles of his shoes as he scuffs them against the rock floor of the cavern, sending feelers through the rock and toward the outside. From what he can see at the open entrance, people are milling past, excited for the _Yeonsyn_ to begin. It's easy enough for them, only having to spectate and contribute to the winners. They get to choose their favorites and help them win if or whenever they please, but for Minho and all the teams waiting in this cavern, it's all or nothing.

Taking a deep breath, Minho closes his eyes. He's trying to tamp down the thoughts and memories surfacing, but of course, it's not working.

He can't get last year's loss out of his mind.

* * *

_There had never been something that clicked with this team._

_Sure, they were all good people, and worthy of being_ Rauldiya _, but Minho could sense the chemistry most of them had without him. It's not that they'd actively shunned him or anything. Quite the opposite, actually - they'd always tried to bring him into the circle, include him wherever possible. But maybe that had been part of why he'd felt himself pulling away._

_That is, until Felix._

_He still doesn't know where they'd found Felix, but he does remember being startled by the smattering of freckles across this new member's face, and of course, that smooth baritone voice._

_Not to mention his skill._

_Minho had always looked at other's movements and dance magic very methodically and almost coldly, getting caught up in all the technical bits and details. It's part of what makes him good and he knows it, but it also contributed to how estranged and isolated he'd felt, sometimes._

_Felix, though._

_They'd all crowded into Hoseok's home after he'd officially announced Felix as a member of the team, all of them excited to meet the newcomer. If Hoseok had decided to bring him in halfway through their training for the_ Yeonsyn _the following year, there had to be something special about him._

_"Now then, Felix," Hoseok had said, that twinkle in his eye that always meant something exciting was about to happen. "All of these lovely people have been dying to see your skills. Care to put on a little show?"_

_With the way Felix's face had blanched a little, Minho hadn't thought he'd say yes for a moment. But he must have had more confidence than Minho had given him credit for, because he'd smiled and stood from his spot around the low table decisively, nodding._

_"Sure, but don't expect too much."_

_His smile had changed to a thoughtful frown, as if deciding what he'd show them, and the rest of them had settled around the table, waiting expectantly. Felix had turned, and even the first step he'd taken was laden with an undercurrent of magical energy, building into a crescendo. Minho couldn't tell when he'd started dancing, to be honest, and that was the first thing that caught him by surprise. He hadn't had time to dwell on it, however, because Felix had put more and more of his body into his movements, sharp and flowing all at the same time. He'd lifted himself into the air, dancing from all angles, baring the core of his_ grava _in gentle light emitting small bubbles and sparks around him, bright and vulnerable. It felt as though they'd all been dancing together, Felix and this rawness of energy at the center of the universe drawing them all in._

_Minho hadn't even realized he'd been holding his breath until Felix slowed his movements, coming to a gentle stop to absorb all the scattered bits of light back into himself and touching down lightly on the carpet._

_"How was it?" Felix had asked after a moment, unconsciously putting two fingers just under his jawline._

_Everyone except Minho had burst into cheers, whistling and clapping and crowding in around Felix to shower him in compliments._

_Minho hadn't been able to move. His brain had fallen into old habits, trying to parse together what he'd liked about the performance in terms of technique and style and all of that, but he'd found that he had nothing. All he could think about in words was how much he'd enjoyed it, how healing it had been just to watch._

_Felix had approached him later, as they'd left Hoseok's dwelling for the hallways and tunnels of rock leading to the surface, the_ Ur Lyxau _._

_"Did you not like my performance?" he'd asked, tugging at the bottom of Minho's tunic. "I'm not hurt at all, I just want to know how to improve."_

_Minho had slowed his steps, turning to face him in surprise. "What? No. No, I did like it."_

_"Then? You were so quiet." Felix's eyes had been wide and earnest, reflecting light from a sconce on the wall opposite._

_Minho had just looked back at him for a moment, trying to put together his words. "Where'd you learn magic?"_

_Felix blinked. "My sister," he'd said slowly._

_"I see." Minho had lifted his face, taken a deep breath. "I don't think I've ever enjoyed watching someone dance that much before."_

_The other had actually blushed, and then leaned forward to hug Minho quickly. "Thank you, Minho! I won't let any of you down."_

_Before Minho could get in a word edgewise, Felix was gone, running the last length of corridor until he disappeared above ground._

_As the months went by, Minho had been more and more surprised by Felix, who made it a point to grow closer to him and learn from him, even though Minho was pretty sure he'd learned a lot more from Felix than the other way around. Still, it was nice, and the results of their combined efforts had given him more hope for the_ Yeonsyn _than ever before._

_As the fateful day approached, it had grown more tense in their practices, all of them quieter, more driven. The tension lasted all the way through stepping foot into the first, second, fourth, fifth rounds, and Minho didn't like it. Sure, they made it past round after round, and they'd turned cheerful, confident smiles to the audience after every advancement, but there had been something wrong, something that weighed brick-heavy in the back of his mind._

_Felix had noticed, of course, and grimly extended some spare warmth through brushes of his knuckles against the back of Minho's hand, or shoulders rubbing together. It had been comforting, but not enough._

_In the sixth round, they'd lost._

_It had been like a rope, fraying until it finally snapped. The audience grew more and more captivated with the other team, and slowly sent their energy that way despite their best efforts. Minho could see Wheein's face crumpling as they'd slowed to a stop, and Jackson falling to his knees._

_Felix had turned to Minho and buried his face in his shoulder, clutching tightly at him, but Minho had stood there, staring at the sky, emotionless and stock still for once._

_Maybe he'd seen this coming._

* * *

An arm looping through his brings Minho out of his thoughts.

He looks up to find Felix's smiling face, reassuring even as he uses the act of rubbing his thumb against Minho's bicep to send some warm magical energy his way. Minho's glad that Felix always gets him even when he can't express his words explicitly. At any rate, he tugs Felix closer, grateful for the other's constant sunshine.

"Wait, I don't get affection too?"

Someone steps easily into Minho's space on the other side of Felix, taking his arm as well, and the corner of his lips lift in a smile.

Hwang Hyunjin had also shown up out of nowhere, back when Minho and Felix's old group had broken up, the other members giving up on ever entering the _Yeonsyn_ again. Minho and Felix had talked about having the same feeling that it wasn't over, and had silently agreed to stay together, but they hadn't talked about bringing in any new members until Felix had dragged a long-haired stranger into their now-shared home.

"This is Hyunjin!" he'd declared proudly. "And he's our new teammate!"

Minho had just stared at them. "Our what."

"Your what?" Hyunjin had asked, just as confused.

Felix had explained how he'd seen Hyunjin dancing alone on one of the rooftops in the _Ur Lyxau_ and had immediately been fascinated enough to want to see more of his dance. It had taken a lot of convincing and pouting, but they'd finally come to an agreement to try working together.

Minho doesn't regret it at all now. Hyunjin clearly has a lot of talent and drive, and is cuddly enough for Felix's taste while being empathetic, patient, and snarky enough for Minho's. He's also his own brand of dramatic, but Minho has found that it's something he's grown inexplicably fond of in the relatively short time they've known each other, and similar to Felix, he can never push the other away, leaning into his casual but careful affection and attention.

He's also found that while he's never not had faith in just himself and Felix, having Hyunjin there makes their group feel more full. They feel more like an actual team, instead of two stray kids who just happen to have more desperation than most of the general population to become _Rauldiya_ and make Xafyr prosper.

The booming of a bell throughout the cavern draws their attention, and all the teams milling about still into a hushed echo.

“Entrants into this year’s _Yeonsyn_ ,” calls one of the _Rauldiya_ ’s courtiers, standing on a raised platform to one side. “It is now time to take your starting positions. There will be attendants standing at the entrance to this cavern and directing you to a patch of ground at random in pairs of teams, and they will accompany you to set up temporary walls and mediate your matches. Be sure to keep yourself available for incoming audience energy and please line up in double file now.”

No one exactly scrambles, but there's an immediate urgency as everyone quickens their pace and falls into line. At a cursory glance, Minho can count about twenty or so teams ahead of them, and several more behind them, and his heart rate steadily picks up. Still, Felix and Hyunjin haven't let go of his arms, and he finds some comfort in that even though they can't expend any more magical energy to tangibly calm his nerves, trying to conserve it for later.

“This is it,” Felix whispers to both of them. “We're going to rock this.”

“Was that a pun, Lee Felix?” Minho whispers back as they start moving forward. “Because we'll be dancing on rock?”

Felix’s round eyes serve to dispel some of their nerves as Minho laughs, impossibly fond. “Have I mentioned you’re a genius?”

“Not nearly enough,” Minho grins.

Hyunjin rolls his eyes, but if he'd been about to comment, it's interrupted as they reach the front of the line. The crowd’s roaring has kicked itself into a higher gear, greeting each new team as they come out. The three of them are ushered to the left, making their way along with another team through newly formed walls springing up around them like a maze. Minho tries not to think about the other matches as they reach a spot of empty ground.

"This will take a moment," their guide says, motioning for the two groups to move toward each other. Taking a breath, they stomp one foot into the ground, kicking the other up into the air. The ground trembles around them, pebbles skirting around the people's feet. In a loose ring, the earth starts to rise, the guide dancing more forcefully to will it to rise faster. Soon, walls of earth surround them and the crowd that had managed to be on the inside as they'd formed, creating a loose ring of earth and crowd with the teams at the center.

Minho looks to either side of him, where Felix and Hyunjin still stand, and they both have that expression on their faces, the grim line of determination etched into the set of their mouths. It's kind of attractive, to be honest, but Minho dismisses the thought, refocusing himself on the task at hand.

The guide is saying something, probably reiterating the rules of a fair match, and he exhales, listening but also sizing up their competition. He recognizes a few faces from last year, but he'd never talked to any of them at length, so it's easier not to get too caught up in any memories.

"Your time will start once you're in your chosen starting formation," the guide says, and the three of them loop arms, forming a circle that faces out in all directions.

"We got this," Felix whispers, and Minho can feel the dangerous smile in his voice.

The other group forms a simple diagonal line, but Minho isn't about to underestimate their skill and power, especially because there's more of them and therefore more magical energy to go between them.

"Ready? Go."

The guide sweeps his arms, and magic spreads across the ring, sealing everything in place. Minho, Felix, and Hyunjin move their right feet in tandem, twisting their toes into the ground, then cross the same ankle over opposite knees, flowing easily into more synchronous choreography.

There's no time to think about the other team anymore, instead channeling their energy into matching with each other, breaking away only to fit back together, weaving in and out and always returning.

It takes a shorter time than they'd thought.

The warmth starts in the tips of their toes. Minho almost isn't sure that it's there at all, until it spreads up to his ankles, smooths out the fatigue in his joints, in his thighs and hips, blooms through his stomach. Despite himself, he smiles, and looks out to meet the eyes of the people in the audience.

Most of their gazes are fixated on the three of them, and they're eager to meet Minho's eyes, spreading their hands and feet toward him as the corners of his eyes crinkle in gratitude. Their energy pools and spreads throughout the three of them, bolstering their movements. He tries to give back in turn, pouring more of himself into his movements and magic, using the extra energy to add a few decorations and props to increase their visuals.

"We have a decisive lead," the guide calls, but Minho's barely aware of it. "Let's see if they can keep it for the allotted time."

There's a pull in his gut as he's flooded with more energy, the _grava_ of the onlookers washing over him almost overwhelmingly. He makes sure to reach out with his own magic, extending toward Felix and Hyunjin, letting them feed his store of energy in turn. The three of them lift into the air together with unspoken agreement, a risky move in case the crowd stops supporting the extra energy expended, but it's already been a couple minutes since the majority of their energy has flowed steadily in the trio's direction.

"Match set!"

It's in the middle of Minho and Felix twirling Hyunjin's body over itself that the mediator calls out, sweeping their leg in a wide arc to release the binding spell of the ring.

"Xiyanu," they continue, turning to face Minho, Felix, and Hyunjin. "You have passed the first round. Take this as a confirmation of your passage to the next round. I wish you the best."

They do something with their hands, complicated knots and twists until a small charm arises from the ground and floats over to Minho, who accepts it with both palms outstretched. He bows instinctively, thanking the guide as the walls around them crumble and the applause scatters with the crowd. They're sure to bow to the other team and thank them for a good match before huddling together.

"One step closer," Minho says, holding up the charm for the others to see.

"Do we know how many more?" Felix asks, stretching out his legs.

Hyunjin sticks out one heel to fold over in half. "I think I heard that it was twenty-six teams total, so we'd have what, four more rounds? Where's our next opponent?"

Minho shrugs, pocketing the charm and sealing his pocket together with a quick drumming of his fingers. The three of them stretch themselves out a little longer until they're met with another mediator, directing them a little ways through the canyon and through a growing crowd that's eager for another match.

And so it goes, the three of them pacing themselves with enough risk thrown in to please the onlookers, battling their way through a few more rounds and bigger and bigger crowds until finally, they stand alone against the _Rauldiya_ of the past year.

By now, all of the crowds have converged into one, and people have started up chants and whistles and whatever else they can, the roar of it lost in the pounding in Minho's ears. He barely remembers to step forward and politely acknowledge the current ruling seats with a fancy bow.

"Let's have a good match," Bang Yedam says, casually as though this isn't the final battle for _Rauldiya_ of the upcoming year. The three of them nod and smile politely before stepping backward to allow the final guide to seal the ring, which now consists of not only the canyon floor but several rows of balconies and cubbyholes built into the canyon walls.

The entire canyon waits with bated breath.

Minho can feel the blood rushing to his ears, pounding through the call for the match to start, pounding as the three of them check in between them, shoring and building upon each other, movements flowing amongst their bodies. It's the three of them against the twelve of their opponents, against the world, it feels like.

It's different this time. During the rounds against other hopefuls, Minho could vaguely sense their eager desperation, especially in later rounds. But none of that compares to this, the overwhelming fierceness of people who were already at the top and determined to stay there. In Xafyr, there's a constant undercurrent of proving oneself through consistent action, through sweat and hard work, and Minho feels as though this group exemplifies that, to an excruciatingly pure degree.

But he believes in the three of them. He believes in Felix, his beautiful smile and radiance an unwavering pillar of strength as he passes his hands over his head, leaps and plants his feet precisely. He believes in Hyunjin, grounded and heavy and just as vibrant, his eyes fierce as he punctuates Felix's moves with something sharper, more powerful.

These are people he's fighting for, even more so than himself, and he'd be damned if he let them down now.

The first part is the hardest. At first, there's almost no support on their side, and they're fighting mostly on their own _grava_ , sapping its energy slowly but steadily. It's not just the physical exhaustion, but a more strained focus, considering they'd gone through several rounds already and the current _Rauldiya_ hadn't. The part that strikes Minho most, however, is the cold. The relative ignorance from the crowd stings, because they're essentially nobodies, nothing special before entering the _Yeonsyn_. He feels the frosty bite of it in his arms, nipping at his cheeks, insistent.

It must have been long enough for the other team to secure their win, but the mediator doesn't call out to seal their victory. Minho raises his eyes to the crowd briefly, and is surprised to see more eyes looking their way than he'd originally thought. Somewhere in him, he finds the energy to send Hyunjin and Felix messages through his fingertips, encourages them to move with him, closer to the edges of the crowd, appeal to people up close.

From what he can sense, they're confused, but comply easily enough, sending smiles to people that are starting to take interest. Minho doesn't know how much longer they can keep it up, but every second counts.

Slowly, he feels it.

It's the familiar tingle of warmth in the very edges of his feet, the same warmth that starts to spread up his legs. It's agonizingly slow, but the build of energy is such soothing relief to his aching muscles that he soaks it in, shares it with his team. As their movements become more precise and daring, the crowd responds, the energy picking up its pace in spreading throughout his entire body. The push of it is enough for them to laugh out loud, the sound of it blending into the swell of the crowd's roars, drowning out the guide's voice behind them.

It's a tidal wave of energy, the audience communing with them in turn, of them spreading that energy right back or in more beautiful displays of light and colors woven throughout their dance. Minho can hardly believe it, but he's never felt this much raw power thrumming through his veins, singing in his blood.

The three of them swirl around each other, all smiles and warmth. Even if they lose this, Minho thinks he couldn't ask for anything more.

"Match set!"

The booming voice startles them, and Minho looks down to see that they've risen quite a distance into the air. He blinks at the other two, and they all grab for each other's shoulders at the same time, lowering themselves back to the earth.

"Sorry?" Minho asks, unsure if he'd heard right.

"I said that the match was set a few times, but no one hear me," the mediator says apologetically, and then straightens. "Your tokens?"

Minho reaches into his pocket and takes out the little collection of charms, all hanging from a ring. He hands them over, his body slowly coming down from its high, and doesn't realize he's holding his breath until the mediator turns to address the assembly at large.

"People of Xafyr, please welcome your new _Rauldiya_ , who will serve until this date of next year."

The cheers are deafening. Minho blinks and smiles at as many people as he can, and then turns to find Bang Yedam giving him a sheepish smile, still winded.

" _Xiyanu_ , Lee Minho. You did really well."

Minho bows slightly, and asks, "You know my name?"

Yedam rubs at the back of his neck. "I've been hoping for the chance for a match with you since last year, to be honest."

Minho gapes, but Hyunjin pats his back solidly. "That's because he's the best, right?"

Yedam laughs, his breathing still slowing and evening out. "For sure. I'll look forward to next year."

With a smile and wave, he turns to return to his group.

The mediator steps up to them before Minho can say anything, and bows slightly. "Welcome, _Rauldiya_. My name is Ok Taecyeon, and I will be your guide around the _Uralx_ and your quarters, as well as an advisor. We'd best get moving before tonight's festivities."

It finally starts to sink in to Minho that they'd won. He's moving on autopilot after the man, Hyunjin and Felix seemingly as dazed as him.

"I feel like this isn't real," Hyunjin whispers, and Minho nods.

He looks around them, at the multitudes of people - their people - conjuring confetti and glitter and anything else that comes to mind with their bodies, all of them united in the revelry of a new set of _Rauldiya_ and high expectations for the year to come. The pressure of it will slowly set in, but for now, Minho's happy to let the atmosphere stay congratulatory and excited, especially as they prepare for the first of many dances in the _Uralx_ tonight.

"We might as well get used to it, boys. This is only the beginning."

* * *

The sheer amount of magical energy in the _Uralx_ is just about intoxicating.

Minho had only been a few times before, but there's certainly a reason why festivities here are famed far and wide. The energy flows through the space, passed from one body to another, carefree and light. Essentially, it's as though the _grava_ of the hundreds of people in the _Uralx_ are untethered, loose and willing to intermingle until the magical energy just isn't individual anymore, but shared from end to end, filling each and every body up from the inside.

"Quite easy to get lost in it, huh?"

Minho looks up to a vaguely familiar face. "Nice to see you. Uh, Yeji, was it?"

Hwang Yeji smiles and nods, turning so she stands next to Minho, also leaning against the table. "Yep. I'm really glad it was yours and Hyunjin's team that won. The _Rauldiya_ before you were fine and all, but we needed something to change."

Raising an eyebrow, Minho turns his head a little to look at her. "Yeah? Why's that?"

She also arches an eyebrow, a perfect mirror of his expression. "I don't like it when people get too cocky."

Minho supposes that's fair. There'd been some rumors about a few of Yedam's team before, about promising things to the people and never following through simply because they could get away with it, but no one had been brave enough, or perhaps reckless enough, to find out the truth. Minho's a little conflicted though, thinking back to the genuine warmth Yedam had shown him right after they'd won. He wants to believe the best of them, but at the very least, the other team can take this time to remind themselves of the hard work it takes to wrangle one's way to the top.

"Why are you talking to me about it and not Hyunjin, though?" he asks curiously, distracting himself from what he can't change anymore. "Not that I'm complaining."

She laughs. "Hyunjin's having a great time with Felix. Meanwhile, you were standing over here all by your lonesome. Just thought I'd keep you company."

Minho's about to answer, but there's a lurching in his stomach, as if someone had twisted his umbilical cord in the wrong direction. He doubles over, clutching at his stomach with one hand, and suddenly sees spots.

"Are you alright?" Yeji asks, hands outstretched as if she'd reached for him but didn't know how to help.

Minho blinks once, twice, letting the spots fade away. Slowly, the feeling recedes, but it leaves behind something sour in his gut, and he suddenly feels too hot.

"I'm fine, I think. I'm just gonna step outside for a minute," he says. Before Yeji can protest, he steps to the side, skirting around the mass of swirling bodies, and finds the edges of the _Uralx_ to follow as he makes his way outside. It's a relief that no one follows him as he makes his way into the cooler night air, turning to the side and starting down a few of the rocky steps until he can sit down.

He tries to breathe, but the sour feeling only travels from his stomach to his legs, and the spots return to his vision as his limbs twist and contort. In his rising panic, he taps his foot against the ground to create enough movement to send out magical energy, trying to pull the parts of himself that are flying apart back together.

It works, at first. He feels himself settling back into something solid, but the pull is still there, and he doesn't know where it's coming from.

"So he was right, then. Hopefully this'll be easy."

It's a voice he doesn't recognize, and Minho struggles to twist his body so he can look behind him to the top of the steps, where two men are descending, heading straight for him.

Everything in him screams danger. If he could just reach out to someone, anyone. If he could call for help through his reddening vision.

The two of them have just reached him when he faintly hears a yell from the top of the stairs, enough to make them turn around. Before Minho can fuzzily process why it sounds familiar, the first man's face is knocked to the side, bringing his body with it.

Felix neatly places his foot back on the ground, smoke curling from the edges of it. The man growls and lunges for him, Minho forgotten in the moment, and Felix looks absolutely livid. He stomps his foot into the ground so that a chunk of stairs shoots into the air and sends it straight into the man's stomach with a spinning side kick.

Hyunjin is a little more reckless, trying to tackle the other head on even though there's no railing overlooking the drop over the outside edge of the stairs, and Minho's on the steps below them. Still, he manages to twist them to the side so he can slam the man's body against the steps, and in the same motion, pins his forearm against his throat.

Since they'd gotten here, Minho had felt the pull on his body lessen, which likely means that the men had some control over why his body felt the way it did, pulled and stretched in so many directions. His vision slowly clears, though his body feels spent from all the strain, and he tries to lift himself to join in and help out, but both men are now knocked out cold, Felix and Hyunjin pinning them to the ground bodily.

"That was kind of hot," is the first thing he thinks to say.

Felix's expression shifts as he looks toward Minho. "Are you okay?" he asks, though Minho doesn't miss the red at the tips of his ears.

Minho nods, sitting up with some effort and deciding to spare him from teasing. "Yeah. Sorry you had to do all the work."

"Never mind that," Hyunjin interrupts anxiously. "What the hell happened? All we felt was you screaming or in trouble or something, and we panicked and tried to find you in the crowd until Yeji pointed us outside."

"I don't know what happened," Minho admits. "I was talking to Yeji and then suddenly my stomach twisted, but it went away soon so I tried not to think about it and came outside for some air. That's when these two were about to attack me and you know the rest."

Felix and Hyunjin look at each other worriedly, knowing he isn't telling them everything, but Hyunjin pats the man underneath him instead of pressing him further. "Okay, before we take you to a healer or something, where do we put these?"

Minho runs a hand through his hair. "We should probably ask Ok Taecyeon. We never finished our tour from earlier, so he might know of a holding cell or something."

The two of them nod, slowly getting to their feet. Minho helps as the three of them carry the two bodies down the stairs and away from the _Uralx_ , the sound of music fading away behind them.

Minho still feels sick, but this time, it doesn't feel like an outside force acting upon him. There's just the feeling of dread, and so many unanswered questions. What would have happened had there been more of them? Are there still enemies in their midst? He needs to find out, and soon.

At the bottom of the stairs, they take off around the edges of the mesa, entering the wall of rock from the back to the underground section of the _Uralx_. As Minho steps into the front hall, he feels something again, and slows to a stop.

This time, it's a gentle tugging, and it's not painful. Minho feels it in the soles of his feet, a warmth that washes over them curiously, gently, inquisitive. It's kind of similar to when the audience had lent them their magical energy, but somehow he knows that it's not from anywhere near him, and only has a single source. He hesitates, wondering if he's imagining it, and lifts his feet to make sure. But as soon as it had come, the almost tingling sensation stops, and he frowns, putting his feet back down.

"Coming?" Felix calls from farther along in the cavern.

"Yeah, sorry." He picks up his pace, following them into the first corridor.

Maybe it really had been his imagination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgot to add an end note! Please vote if you're American and of age (I know, hard after the debate today), practice allyship, wash your hands, and if you're on the West Coast, pack a go bag in case of fire evacuation. Stay safe, y'all. 
> 
> Feel free to talk to me on twitter at @hiraethstill or on Discord if you have my handle. We going Changbin POV next chapter, probably? Most likely haha. Please leave a comment! Thanks for reading.


	4. building bridges (tread the blueprint)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Walks in 203957849203 years late with Starbucks.
> 
> I'm sorry it took so long to get this next chapter up, school has been kicking my ass over and over again. Thanks for being patient and hopefully you enjoy! This chapter should've been named "3RACHA is soft over each other and thirsts for everyone else."

_Stepping stones in place_

_Leap across the great divide_

_To meet destiny_

* * *

Changbin swears he'd tried to sleep.

He'd been working on something for Chan, alone in his room because Chan and Jisung had both been in their overly productive modes and he'd known he wouldn't get any company out of them for the time being. He's been actively trying to sleep earlier, but the other two definitely haven't, their drive for perfection combining with the insidious weight of expectations that mostly come from themselves. That's not to say that Changbin doesn't do that to himself either, but Sana had been telling him about how worried she was about Chan, and it made him more aware of his own similar habits.

For both her and himself, he should probably check in on Chan and Jisung and attempt to get them to bed if possible. So he stands and stretches before padding into the hallway, the _Hireuln_ quiet around him.

As expected, the room where Chan had been working still lets a sliver of light into the hall from underneath the door. Changbin wills the door open as silently as possible with his thoughts and pokes his head around it, sighing when he sees Chan hunched over his desk and surrounded in more stacks of papers than before.

"Chan," he calls gently, frowning. Better not to send magical strength to him now if he wants to successfully pull him away from his work, so he steps forward instead, physically placing his hands on Chan's shoulders. "It's late. At least take a break."

Chan doesn't even flinch. "I can't, Changbin. I have to finish this by tomorrow.”

"You and I both know that you're way ahead of where you need to be," Changbin says without missing a beat. "And Jisung, too. I should also go drag him away from his work."

"Two steps ahead of you," Jisung says behind them, having entered through the same door as Changbin and slinging an arm around his shoulders. He peeks at Chan's work and whistles. "Good thing we're here, huh? Come to bed, Chan."

Chan chokes on his laughter as Changbin frowns at Jisung. "You didn't have to make it sound so dirty," he complains.

"It's your fault for taking it that way," Jisung grins, shrugging. He leans forward so that his chin rests on Chan's shoulder, right on top of Changbin's hand. "Come on, Channie, please?"

Changbin hates to admit it, but without both him and Jisung there, Chan probably wouldn't have even considered it. He always feels the need to strive toward some kind of perfection for himself that Changbin and Jisung certainly don't expect from him, and the fact that he tries to shoulder their responsibilities on top of his own makes Changbin worry more than a little bit. He and Jisung have talked about it before, resolving to gently pull him out of his own head whenever they can. It had seemed better for a while before they'd become First. but Chan's older habits are catching up to him, and for all that he tries to take care of them, Changbin wonders whether there's more he can do for Chan instead.

Still, it seems as though Chan's resolve is finally crumbling as Jisung nuzzles against his neck gently, and Changbin gives in, hooking his chin over Chan's other shoulder.

That seems to do it.

"Fine, fine," Chan says, laughing and patting both of their heads. "I'm coming. Let me just..."

The papers spread out in front of him reshuffle themselves into slightly neater stacks, and Chan pushes back his chair to stand up. "There. Happy?"

"Not until Channie is completely in bed," Changbin says, in the cute voice he reserves for when it's just them and he's warm and comfortable. It's been happening more and more nowadays, but he finds it's not as scary as he'd thought it would be, to be close to the two of them.

Chan loops an arm through Changbin's as they squish through the door. "I can't promise you that I'll sleep that much, but I'll try."

"We'll just have to cuddle you into submission," Jisung says flippantly, his arm snaking around Chan's waist.

Changbin's always glad that Jisung can make Chan laugh without fail, because Chan's eyes crinkle as he doubles forward, almost having to let go of them as a laugh escapes him. It's tired, but it's miles better than the tone he'd had when telling Changbin that he couldn't take a rest. Changbin catches Jisung's eye and sends him a grateful smile.

In doing so, he must miss something, because Chan's arm slips from his and he bends over again, but this time, he's clutching at his stomach and gasping.

"Chan? Chan! What happened?" Changbin reaches out, his hands fluttering over Chan's back. He doesn't know whether touching him would help, and Jisung seems equally alarmed. Chan seems to be still now, but he's still doubled over, breathing hard.

"I'm... I'm fine," he tries to say.

"Obviously not," Jisung says, but he puts his hands on Chan's shoulders. "Sit down, okay?"

Slowly, Chan shakes his head. "Seriously, I don't know what happened, but it passed."

"You sure?" Changbin places a hand on the small of Chan's back. "What did you feel? We could carry you if need be."

"No, it's..."

Before Chan can finish his sentence, he lurches forward again, and sinks to his knees. His body curls into itself as he falls onto his side in what seems like slow motion, and his body convulses. Changbin tries not to panic, and kneels next to him to gently push at him with his _grava_. But Chan must not be conscious enough to let him in, or his body is taking over and shutting everything out, because he's met with nothing but solid wall. One glance at Jisung kneeling on the other side of Chan confirms that he can't get through either, and Changbin fights down the welling of sick fear in his chest.

But as suddenly as it had come, the convulsing stops. Chan's body falls limp against the floor, and goes completely still.

A moment of silence passes between them.

"Chan?" Jisung reaches out tentatively, settling a hand on Chan's shoulder blade. "Channie, please." The fear is growing in his voice.

"He's definitely alive," Changbin murmurs, more relieved this time that at least the wall meets him when he reaches out with magical energy. "Chan?"

Chan slowly lifts his head, struggling to lift himself onto an elbow, but Changbin and Jisung stop him.

"What the hell was that?"

Blinking slowly, Chan stares at Changbin. "I..."

"Don't even think about lying to us," Changbin says fiercely. "That was not normal, and if it's going to come back, we need to know if we can help you."

Chan swallows, looking at him for a moment longer, then toward Jisung, whose eyes are wide and concerned. He takes a deep breath, lets it out.

"You're right," he says, and Changbin can nearly feel the guilt creeping into his voice. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for nearly collapsing?" Jisung asks incredulously.

"Sorry for not still not having told you."

Changbin frowns. "Not making us any less worried. Let's go to your room and then we can talk."

Chan nods, and this time, Jisung and Changbin let him sit up, helping him to his feet. Changbin reaches behind him so that Chan can clamber onto his back, and Jisung sends a little strength Changbin's way to help spread out the load. As they walk, Chan buries his face in the back of Changbin's neck, falling silent and staying that way until Changbin deposits him gently on his bed.

Jisung and Changbin pull off his shoes and their own, tucking their legs underneath them as they sit next to Chan on the bed. Changbin can tell Jisung is as worried as he is, but he masks it well as he asks, "Are you okay? What's the secret you haven't told us?"

Chan looks down at his hands, twisting the First's ring around his finger. Changbin has never seen him this nervous, not even before he'd petitioned for the both of them to join him in the ruling seat when they'd all become First. His eyebrows are drawn together in thought, and as he finally looks up at them, there's uncertainty written plainly across his face.

"Have either of you ever felt something physically tugging at you, something that you can't see?"

Changbin raises an eyebrow, thinking about it. "Not that I can remember."

Jisung shakes his head. "Me neither."

Chan's shoulders slump a little, the tension bleeding out as if he'd expected that answer. "What if I told you that there's always been unexplainable magic connecting us?" He pauses, then seems to gather his courage, barreling on. "They've manifested as these golden threads that apparently only I can see, and for the longest time, I couldn't follow them to the ends. But then Jisung came along, and the first day I met him, I saw the threads connecting us and asked if he could see them too."

"I remember that," Jisung said slowly. "You looked so disappointed I almost wanted to ask what you were talking about."

Chan nods. "No one ever believed me when I tried to tell them about it, so I decided it was probably better to keep it to myself. And when we met Changbin, the threads were connecting him to me and Jisung, and grew brighter over time, so I thought that maybe we'd organically meet the people connected to the rest of them."

"There are more people?"

Chan looks heartened that Changbin's question had been genuine and not judgemental. "Yeah, there's about five more."

Jisung whistles, and reaches over to gently take Chan's hand. "What would happen if we went after them? And why are you telling us this now?"

Absently, Chan lets Jisung run his thumb over the back of his hand. "What happened just now... One of the threads connected to my stomach was twisting and turning. That's the best way I can describe it. I don't think... Well, if you both can't feel it, then I don't think the others can either, because this has never happened before. I also don't know who any of them are."

Changbin frowns, then reaches out to put his hand on Chan's knee, sending him gentle warmth despite his concern. "Does that mean there's an outside power trying to meddle with it or something? Maybe we should make an attempt to find everyone else, then."

"But what if we're not supposed to?"

Jisung frowns. "I dunno about you, but that was a pretty clear sign something's up, so we should at least follow that one thread."

Chan nods slowly. "Yeah, I guess. But we can't just leave everything behind to follow it without even knowing what's going on."

"I'll go myself," Jisung offers.

"You can't see it, though. And something might happen to you and our connection along the way."

Changbin pats Chan's knee. "He can take care of himself. And if need be, we can always try to follow it for some time and then come back if it's too far out of range to send messages to each other."

Chan reaches out to grip Changbin's hand, and he can feel the impression of Chan's turmoil, the other likely only showing him a small portion of it. Changbin squeezes his hand gently, encouraging him to open up more, and it feels like the small encouragement is what Chan needs right now, relaxing until Jisung and Changbin can feel the extent of his trepidation and uncertainty. They know he doesn't like not knowing things and not being in control, but this is something that none of them can predict, and all of them know it.

Changbin scoots over so that he can wrap an arm around Chan's shoulders. "For now," he says carefully, pulling Chan's head into his chest, "we should sleep. We can think about the best course of action in the morning, okay? We're all tired right now, and we might have more ideas after sleeping."

"Yep, cuddling is still in order," Jisung says, starting to smile.

Crawling over the sheets, Jisung lifts the edge and burrows underneath, latching his arms around both of their waists so he can pull them backward and promptly squish them all together. He wriggles the sheets out from underneath their bodies and lets it billow out to settle over them. By now, Chan's smiling faintly at his antics, and allows Jisung to curl into his side. He pulls Changbin close as well, and Changbin goes willingly, resting his head against Chan's shoulder.

 _Sweet dreams, then,_ he sends in his thoughts.

Changbin and Jisung return it, smiling a little. But Changbin stays awake, both to gather his thoughts and make sure Chan's breathing finally evens out. Chan's breathing is too shallow for his liking, though, and he turns a little, looking up at him.

"Chan..."

"I promise I'll go to sleep in a second," Chan whispers softly. "Let me just try something."

Changbin waits, but it doesn't take long before Chan sighs, letting out a breath as if he'd been holding it.

"I tried reaching out, but I don't think they can feel the thread on their own."

Reaching up, Changbin pats his cheek softly. "That's not your fault."

"I know."

Chan doesn't say anything more, but he pulls Changbin a little closer, and Changbin traces his fingers gently across Chan's stomach, wishing he wouldn't blame himself for everything.

* * *

When he wakes up, Changbin is pleasantly surprised that Jisung and Chan are still passed out next to him. It's still early yet, and Changbin definitely doesn't want to wake them up and give them any excuse to go back to work with how little they already sleep.

He can, however, silently admire the planes of Chan's face next to him for a moment, let his face soften at the soft pout on Jisung's lips and the way he needs to latch onto them to sleep soundly. He doesn't really have a name for the gentle warmth in his chest that swells as he looks at them, but it's something he tucks away to examine later.

As slowly as he can, he extracts himself from their hold to roll off the bed and find his shoes. He'd promised himself yesterday that he'd get up early and join in on morning training with the army in the outdoor spaces of the stronghold. So after washing up, he finds a change of clothes suitable for exercise and checks in on Chan and Jisung, who still look peaceful, before making his way out to the grounds.

It's not a rare occurrence for him to fall into the ranks because he likes to keep his basic combat skills sharp even though he's no longer an army brat, and no one questions it as he joins in. By mid-morning, he's worked up a sheen of sweat, and his muscles are starting to ache, but it's the good kind of grind, the one that leaves him feeling fulfilled.

The peace is broken, however, as there's a commotion in the ranks, closer to the entrance of the main fortress. Changbin looks up, only to find Chan moving swiftly toward him, already pushing at him with his _grava_ before he even draws close.

"What's wrong?" Changbin asks, lowering his arms from his fighting stance.

Before Chan talks to him, however, he turns to the curious soldiers around them, who have all snapped to attention, their fists crossed at the wrists. He returns the greeting and bows a little, because no matter how many times Changbin, Jisung, and everyone else has insisted it isn't necessary, he has a thing about respect for everyone, regardless of rank or status. It's part of the reason everyone in Rhulsan can't help but love him.

" _Arowen_ , I hope training is going well and everyone is having a good day," he says, smiling. "I just need to steal Changbin for an important matter. Do well today. _Zahaan_."

As the soldiers grin and wave both of them away, Changbin is still smiling a little to himself. "Best leader," he says as they move out of earshot.

"You're also First as well," Chan reminds him like he always does, and then adds, "but that's not important right now. We need to find Jisung, and have a meeting."

Changbin frowns. "About what?"

But Chan refuses to tell him any more until they've gathered in the library, seated in a cluster at one end of a long conference table.

"I just got word from one of our Southern scouts and again from a Western scout that there's increased activity of an unknown foreign power. It's nothing we need to worry about in Rhulsan in the current moment, but they've apparently most recently struck the newly appointed _Huio_ in Hyoyu, and may have had one or two people posted in Xafyr, though the details were unclear on that one."

Jisung frowns. "We were planning on alliances with both of them a while ago, and they're close enough that we could possibly be the next target."

"Exactly," Chan says, nodding. "And..." He pauses, taking a deep breath. "Well, this is a long shot, and I don't know why I didn't try it before, but could I ask you both to lend me some of your _grava_ so I can try something?"

"Sure," Changbin says as Jisung agrees too. "What do you need?"

Chan exhales, long and slow. "I'm going to try and follow the threads without physically having to follow them. It's just a vague hunch, but I get the feeling they'll lead to Hyoyu and Xafyr."

Jisung sits forward. "So we have to help them out anyway?"

"That's what we're potentially about to find out."

Giving them both a meaningful look, Chan closes his eyes and extends his _grava_ a little, enough to invite Changbin and Jisung in. They feed their magic into his, and Changbin can suddenly see their surroundings through Chan's eyes, nearly losing his concentration.

The golden threads are more beautiful than he'd imagined, soft glowing lines of connection between the three of their hands. There are some that extend from his stomach and ribs, and some that extend from his legs, both groups disappearing in different directions. Changbin can't focus on them too long, however, because Chan is directing them to a thread that connects to his ribs, above his navel. With a jolt, Changbin has the sudden clarity that this had been the thread that Chan had been feeling last night, twisting and jerking around. He'd taken Jisung's suggestion of following that thread, then.

The three of them move along the line, following it out of the library and out of the stronghold as it entangles with two others. The thread continues, snaking out into the forests and mountains and cities of Rhulsan, following a path that runs into the mountains and disappears into arid wasteland that gives way to canyons riddled with caves. The image is a little strained, growing fuzzier around the edges, but they persist together, heartened by the fact that three threads still run in this direction. They're certainly in Xafyr now, imposing rock walls rising around them and people using magic with flicks of wrist or stomping feet.

Changbin has only physically been there once, but what Xafyr's people call the _Uralx_ is unmistakable, the fabric stretching toward the sky and covering the expanse of a mesa. The threads lead them into it, where it seems to currently be an indoor market of some kind, though Changbin has been told the _Uralx_ has many uses. Tables and wares spread out as far as the eye can see, everything bathed in faint purple shadow, a stark contrast to the bright sun outside.

To their surprise, all three threads end at handsome young men, attached to their bodies on different sides of the waist for two of them. The thread they're supposed to be following is attached, predictably, to the same spot on the third man as it is on Chan's body. The man has a sharp, elegant nose, long lashes, and soft brown hair that frames his forehead. They can't hear much, just the echoes of noise, so Changbin can't discern his voice beyond a faint warped murmur, but he's saying something to the man next to him, who's noticeably taller, with very full lips and shoulder-length blonde hair. The third man, with freckles and a wide smile, hooks his chin onto the first man's shoulder, saying something that makes the other two laugh and pat his head.

But it's getting hard to keep up the images, even with all three of their magic combined. There's probably a reason that this magic is harder to do than most, and Changbin does feel kind of guilty for what feels like spying even as a small part of him wants to keep looking at the three of them. The image grows blurrier, grainy as it fades suddenly and the three of them are shocked back into their own bodies.

It's disorienting to be sitting back in the library in the _Hireuln_ stronghold, looking up at the slightly dazed faces of Chan and Jisung. Changbin takes a moment to recenter himself, and takes in the feeling of his feet touching the floor, his forearms on the wooden surface of the conference table. There's silence between them for a few seconds, and then Jisung speaks up, staring into space.

"Well. They were hot."

"Jisung!" Chan says, but he's laughing, and doesn't refute the point.

"What? I'm right. I bet Changbinnie agrees."

Changbin sucks his lower lip into his mouth. "Unfortunately, I do."

As Jisung's spluttering something demanding why he deems it unfortunate, Chan shakes his head. "That's not the point," he says. "Now we have some idea of where to find the people at the end of three threads. I also want to find the last two, but that depends on if you're up for it. That took up a lot of _grava_ , so we're not going to move forward unless all of us are prepared for it."

"I'm ready," Jisung assures him. "Let's go find more hot guys."

Chan snorts, with that smile he gets when he's done with them but also fond at the same time. "Changbin?"

Changbin nods as well after he stops smiling, taking a deep breath. "Let's do it."

The three of them close their eyes again, making a little more effort to put more _grava_ into it so that the picture is more stable as they start. The journey starts again by leading them out of the stronghold and into Rhulsan, but this time, the threads make their way through the forests at the southeastern edge, which give way to more and more rivers, mixed with canals and lakes and the sea in the distance. They will the image closer to the threads and ground level, and follow a wider canal lined by fountains and leading up to an impressive castle with pillars of marble around the entrance and intricate spires that reach for the sky.

As they enter through the enormous doors, they move through an entrance hall and into a central area with balconies around them. There are layers of round glass skylights above lined in gold and letting in sunlight, but that's not the main thing drawing Changbin's attention.

Hovering in midair, there seems to be a council of some sort, where a dozen or so small blue creatures with long antennae and gold designs around their eyes sit, attentively paying attention to the three figures seated together at the farthest point in the circle from the entrance hall.

The woman is speaking, and Changbin can't hear her words, but she must be a respected figure with the way the other two are listening and nodding along. He finds his attention shifting to them, though, because the threads are connected to them, each with a thread on one side of the base of their necks. The one in the middle gestures with the sleeves of his robes extending almost to his fingertips, and the man on his other side has a perpetual smile, accentuating his absurdly prominent cheekbones. Changbin would allow himself a thought or two more about them being attractive as well, but he can already feel the edges of the world blurring, faster than last time. They've expended more energy this time to have a clearer glimpse, and he doesn't want any of them to deplete themselves, so he allows the vision to fade out, finding himself back in the library again.

Chan turns to Jisung, almost expectant.

"Yes, Channie," Jisung says, starting to laugh. "They were hot, too."

Changbin can't help but grin. "More cute than hot, actually."

"Changbin is right." Chan shakes his head, smiling. "Anyway, if I have it right, those were the _Huio_ of Hyoyu, and the place they were in was the _Bhuwyn_ , their castle of sorts. So we have two groups of threads. One goes to Xafyr, and one goes to Hyoyu. We haven't had much interaction with either, but the _Huio_ essentially are the ruling seat, so we can do a little digging to find out whether the other three are _Rauldiya_ , which I believe is the equivalent counterpart in Xafyr."

"If I go to Xafyr, I can finally find people who know the way they use magic." Jisung's eyes widen in excitement, and he leans forward, grabbing Chan's hand in both of his. "Please? Let me go to Xafyr, and let Changbin go to Hyoyu. I promise it's not just about the hot guys."

Chan squeezes his hand, then looks at Changbin. "I know you're both capable, but I worry... And besides, what would we say to them? We have no plans or explanations. All we know is that the threads connect us, we want an alliance with the two of them, and some power is stirring that might affect all of us. We can't tear them away from their own kingdoms either."

"Maybe we can go with the intention of setting up a meeting between all of our leaders in order to figure that out." Changbin rests his cheek against his palm, elbow propped up on the table. "That way we can frame it as looking far into the future and sharing all our resources as three lands to stand against whatever it is and prevent something from happening rather than deal with the consequences." He pauses, raising an eyebrow at Chan. "We'd have to explain the golden threads, though."

Chan nods slowly. "They'll have questions about it, and well, at least you both know what they look like. Jisung, if you're going to Xafyr, then you should also bring up the feeling of someone tugging or manipulating the threads."

Jisung nods, having taken to playing with Chan's fingers. "Maybe one of them felt it."

"We can hope." Chan exhales slowly, looking at the ceiling for a moment. "Well, we can take the rest of the day to rest and prepare, and figure out where all of us as leaders can meet, maybe a neutral ground in the middle of our territories or back here in the _Hireuln_. I expect you both to tell me if anything goes wrong, got it?"

Jisung and Changbin nod solemnly, and both of them cross their hearts.

"Good. Meeting adjourned, then. Take today off, because tomorrow will be a long one."

* * *

It's still dark outside as Chan, Changbin, and Jisung walk toward the entrance of the stronghold. Changbin's nervous, to be honest. He's never had the need to go to Hyoyu, and had only been to Xafyr once in the several months he's served as First of Rhulsan. This could be exciting, or could go terribly wrong.

The three of them had gathered enough information about the other two lands for him not to make a fool of himself or offend anyone. He goes through the two names of the _Huio_ in his head - Kim Seungmin and Yang Jeongin. Apparently, _Huio_ Jeongin had only been appointed about a week or two ago, which must have been stressful with the attack right around his ascension to the ruling seat. Changbin already respects him for that, and he's sure _Huio_ Seungmin will be impressive as well.

He's drawn out of his thoughts as they approach the outer walls of the stronghold, and the vast gates open for them, soundless as always.

Chan turns to Changbin to give him a giant hug, and rubs his back gently, sending him a little extra energy as though tucking it into his pocket for later. He turns to Jisung to do the same, and they sway together for a bit before Jisung detaches himself. Changbin holds out his arms for Jisung, who latches onto him, burying his face in his shoulder.

"Dunno what I'll do without your fake cuteness to bother me for a few days," he jokes.

Changbin protests, but he clings to Jisung even more tightly before holding him at arm's length. "It's just a few days. I'll be back to annoying you in no time."

Jisung grins, and the both of them turn to look at Chan, who's watching them fondly.

"Safe travels," he says. "Remember to reach back for me with your thoughts if you need anything."

Changbin nods. "Will do," he says, and tears his eyes away to turn around.

He and Jisung take flight at the same time, moving in opposite directions. Changbin only risks a glance back when Chan is a tiny speck on the ground, and sees him turn around to enter the _Hireuln_ again.

The journey almost feels like a blur. Changbin can vaguely remember the wind rushing past him as he flies, the trees and towns passing by underneath too fast to see. Occasionally, he comes across another lone traveler making a longer journey, but most people prefer traveling closer to the ground. As he sees more rivers ahead, he wills himself to go a little faster despite being tired from sustaining his momentum with his _grava_ for hours on end, and soon he's crossing over into Hyoyu territory.

There seem to be more people moving around in the air and across canals here, but it doesn't feel as though they're traveling anywhere important. He slows enough to appreciate the stunning buildings lining waterways around him, since it's even more beautiful in person. Eventually, though, he makes it to the _Bhuwyn_ , in awe at the towering spires and beyond it, a drop with a waterfall and a view of the sea farther away.

Gingerly, he finally alights at the end of the wide canal toward the entrance, and minimizes his _grava_ usage until it's just enough to walk across the surface of the water, since he's tired from the long journey. Thankfully, there's still a substantial amount of daylight left, so he feels less trepidation about bothering the _Huio_ at this time, striding toward the front doors.

As he draws closer, he notes there are no guards at the entrance, but the steps are covered in a thin layer of water, flowing as slow as molasses toward him. He debates whether to knock on the soaring gilded doors, but the water shoots up in front of him before he can do anything, almost a shield between him and the entrance.

At a loss, he stands there for a moment on the bottom step, trying to see the door through the wall of water, but as soon as it had appeared, the water subsides, calmly flowing over the steps again.

Now, however, the doors are open, and there stands one of the _Huio_ themselves, the one with sharp cheekbones and foxlike eyes.

"You're Seo Changbin, First of Rhulsan? I am _Huio_ Yang Jeongin. Welcome to the _Bhuwyn_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with me this far! Hope all of you are taking care of yourselves. Support BLM and social justice movements, and wash your hands/wear masks/social distance, especially because of the new COVID spikes. Let's hope America gets its shit together. 
> 
> Find me on Twitter at @hiraethstill or ask for my Discord!


	5. building bridges (scratch the surface)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the plot thickens. 
> 
> I've been really inconsistent, but I really hope that I can put out a chapter a week for the next few weeks because December is a bit of a break. For now, enjoy some more crumbs of plot and some gay. 
> 
> **GLOSSARY**
> 
> aunyila - a popular non-alcoholic street drink in Xafyr that looks like swirling masses of purple and blue clouds in a cocktail shape, underscored by glitter or sparkles. generally, people pour it and it holds together without a glass/cup, so there's nothing to dispose of after finishing the drink

_Treading unaware_

_Every step on puppet strings_

_Hiding in the dark_

* * *

"You can start talking, or I can dislocate your shoulder, for a start."

Hyunjin pushes further into the hold he has on the man's shoulder, trying not to feel anything about how man groans in agony. He doesn't like doing this, but though Minho's the scariest out of the three of them, Hyunjin and Felix had stopped him from doing it himself, and Felix doesn't like causing harm on purpose. He doesn't either, but something twists in his gut as he thinks about how little regard the guy and his partner had shown for Minho a couple nights ago.

"Even if you... don't kill me, he will," the man grits out. 

"Who?" Hyunjin growls, using his elbow to push the man's face further into the rock floor since his hands are occupied.

The man lets out a pitiful wheeze. "Sorry... I'm sorry. I can't say."

"Bullshit." A sharp twist to the man's shoulder, and he lets out a sharp cry of agony, eyes flying wide open. Hyunjin almost apologizes.

"I'm serious!" the man gasps. "I swear it. Please..."

It's the first time Hyunjin's heard the guy at a true breaking point, and he steels himself. "You could just tell me and save yourself a lot of trouble."

The man squeezes his eyes shut, and a sob wracks his body. He's silent for a long moment, two. Then, slowly, he speaks. "My parents... He'll kill my parents. And our friends." It comes out as barely a whisper. "He's watching. I can feel it. He's here... watching."

Frowning, Hyunjin finally loosens his hold a little. If the man is here and attacked against his will, then they're dealing with something far larger than the two prisoners sitting in their holding rooms. Something in him drains completely, and suddenly, he can't bring himself to do this any longer.

Slowly, he releases his hold on the man and rises to his feet, breathing hard. His heartbeat pounds in his ears, and he can barely bring himself to look at the man still crumpled on the floor. The man lies completely still, as if expecting more rough treatment, and Hyunjin breaks a little.

"Sorry," he says, voice low and nearly cracking.

The person blinks his eyes open, and they flick toward Hyunjin, just standing there and staring at him.

"You're... A little late for that, don't you think?"

Swallowing, Hyunjin looks away, then forces his gaze back. "You can get up," he says, not trusting himself to answer the question without breaking. "I won't hurt you anymore. Promise."

There's an impasse, where neither of them move. Hyunjin uses it to take a closer look at the guy, under the bruise forming on his cheekbone where he'd been knocked out earlier. His eyes taper slightly at the ends, with long lashes and full lips. All of this combined with a slightly protruding jaw gives his face something of an ethereal look, hard to describe in human terms.

Surprisingly, he doesn't look at Hyunjin with anger, or hurt. There's a little bit of distrust, but he seems more assessing, as if trying to pick Hyunjin's intentions apart. Still, it almost hurts more than if he'd looked at Hyunjin like he's a monster. He rolls his shoulder back slowly, measured as though testing to see whether it's still functional, and winces but doesn't break eye contact with Hyunjin.

"I'll fix it," Hyunjin says, almost too quickly. "Er, if you let me."

The man's eyes narrow, and he makes the smallest of movements with his head, shaking it almost in warning. Instead of saying anything, he turns completely around so that he's facing the far wall and reaches behind him, gesturing as if beckoning Hyunjin forward.

Blinking, Hyunjin complies, but approaches cautiously, just in case. He doesn't know what's going on, but it's clearly an invitation, and he can have backup here in moments if needed. Still, he doesn't touch the man at all, instead standing just behind him and digging the toe of his boot into the floor to summon some magic. The man stills noticeably as Hyunjin brings his hands up, calling upon whatever little healing he knows through the other's legs, up to his shoulders. There's something blocking Hyunjin from reaching all the way to his face, but he doesn't push, just moves his arms in circular motions to work the magic a little deeper into the guy's shoulders. As he feels the last of the pain and tension ebb away, he drops his hands.

The man also digs his toes into the ground, but pointedly doesn't look at what he's doing, and as Hyunjin tries to look at it, turns back around with his eyes flashing in warning. Something flits through Hyunjin's mind, the warning the man had whispered brokenly before.

_He's watching._

If there's another presence in the room, Hyunjin can't feel it, but it doesn't take him long to put two and two together. If the man had turned away before allowing Hyunjin to heal his shoulder, and wouldn't let either of them look at the words springing up from the floor with swirling patterns of his feet, then someone, someone Hyunjin can't see, must be able to look through his eyes.

Carefully, he holds the man's gaze rather than look down, trying to think of something to say that won't sound suspicious. "Well. I can't do much for you, then, if you're going to be that stubborn. You'll just have to stay down here until you talk."

Thankfully, the man seems to catch on. "Good luck with that," he says, and if Hyunjin hadn't seen the moment of understanding in his eyes before he'd said anything, he wouldn't even think the other was acting.

The man freezes up, and falls back to the ground, face pointedly splayed in the other direction. Hyunjin almost goes to help him, but sees his foot twitch, adding a last bit to his message on the floor. He turns his head slightly to read it instead.

_My name is Byeongkwan. Trust me, I didn't want to do anything bad to Rauldiya Lee Minho. But I didn't have a choice, and neither did Sehyoon. If we can figure out a way to reliably communicate without Him seeing, I swear I'll tell you everything._

Hyunjin reads the message several times over, trying to commit it to memory, and checks to make sure the man - Byeongkwan, apparently - is still looking away. The message confirms what he'd been suspicious of in the first place, at any rate, and as much as he's grateful to the guy for revealing as much as he has, both of them know he's going to have to continue acting the part of prisoner, at least for now.

Crouching down, Hyunjin waves his hand over the message, and it slowly sinks into the floor, disappearing without a trace. He wracks his brain for something that could let Byeongkwan know that he'll be back, that they'll get to the bottom of this, but there's nothing around them he can use as a signal, and he doesn't want to test whether feeding his _grava_ into Byeongkwan's will set off whatever force has some control over him. Finally, he settles on just nudging his foot lightly against the guy's boot, and turns, letting his feet fall heavy against the floor so that it's obvious he's leaving.

Later, he'll find answers, for himself, for Minho and Felix, for Byeongkwan, even. For now, he has more questions than answers.

* * *

Whenever Hyunjin gets stuck in his head, or needs to work through something, Minho and Felix are always there. So it's no surprise that his feet naturally carry him to the top of the mesa and into the _Uralx_ , where the two of them are most likely to be.

It's still set up as a vast marketplace for now, and Hyunjin takes a moment to smile at vendors as he passes by, wares and trinkets beckoning him forward. He and the other two are still so very new to the position of _Rauldiya_ , so he can't help second-guessing himself a little as he greets the people, even though their smiles seem welcoming and genuine enough.

He'd entered through the back entrance, so it takes him a while and a lot of wandering to finally spot Minho and Felix just outside the truly gigantic flaps of the entrance, facing the maze of canyons below the mesa. They're holding what look like three orders of _aunyila_ , the misty masses swirling in purples and blues and sparkling with pinpoints of silver underneath artfully arranged clouds. Hyunjin smiles a little to himself, warm all over that they'd remembered - as always - to save him one. Picking up his pace, he draws closer and slings his arms around their shoulders, sticking his head forward.

"That for me?" he asks, nodding at one of the drinks as though he doesn't already know the answer. Minho rolls his eyes and smiles as he tosses the drink into empty space, but Hyunjin had been expecting it, so he taps his foot until it freezes and he can pluck it, intact, out of the air.

"How did it go?" Felix asks after he's stolen Hyunjin's drink and taken a long draw from it. He looks like he'd rather not be asking the question, but Minho's attention is now fixed on Hyunjin as well, the two of them turning inward to face him.

Sighing, Hyunjin looks up, distracted for a moment by the way Minho's bangs catch the sunlight. "We have to talk about it, but we also have to make sure it's nowhere near the holding rooms."

Minho raises an eyebrow, the small upturn of his lips gone and replaced with a firm line. "So you found something."

Hyunjin plucks his _aunyila_ from Felix's hand and takes his own sip. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around it too, but the two prisoners we have didn't exactly act of their own free will."

Eyes widening, Felix asks, "What do you mean? Is there someone we missed?"

Before Hyunjin can answer, however, there's a gentle push of _grava_ from somewhere in front of them, almost like a tapping on their shoulders. The three of them turn, and Ok Taecyeon bows a little from a little ways down the steps before ascending the rest of the way, a young man behind him.

"Sorry to bother you, and please let me know if this isn't a good time for an audience with a foreign guest." He bows again, but holds it, waiting for an answer.

Minho and Felix look at Hyunjin, and each put a hand on his shoulder blades, rubbing a little and asking for permission to send thoughts. When he allows it, Felix immediately speaks up.

_Is the information from the holding room more important? We can delay a little._

Hyunjin shakes his head, allowing him to send back a _No, there's not much we can do about it without knowing more. Let's do the audience now._

Minho seems satisfied as well, as both he and Felix drop their hands from his back. He steps forward, and Hyunjin marvels, not for the first time, at the calm yet commanding presence he carries, which doesn't need any amplification through magic. He doesn't need to stand especially straight or tall, but Taecyeon's and the stranger's eyes immediately fixate on him with rapt attention.

"I keep telling you, but you really do insist on climbing the stairs without magic," he says, shaking his head. "Thank you, Taecyeon, we'll take it from here."

As the man bows and turns to move back down the stairs, Minho focuses on the stranger, and Hyunjin does too. His clothes are different shades of green, which brings to mind vague recollections of reading about a kingdom to the south and west of them, mountainous and forested. He still wears a layered traveler's cloak that looks much more suited for colder weather, with large boots and several utility belts and two more forming an X across his sternum, likely holding an assortment of weapons shrunk for easier travel.

Hyunjin might almost be impressed that he'd made it here in one piece carrying all of this, and might almost think he's intimidating with the equally calm, focused gaze he settles over the three of them. But the very first words out of his mouth ruin the image.

"Right, so. Introductions. I'm Han Jisung." His heart-shaped smile is wide and disarming. "Also First of Rhulsan, but that's not really important right now. You're Lee Minho, Hwang Hyunjin, and Lee Felix, right? Or can I just call you handsome?"

Hyunjin is surprised into a choked laugh, not at the blatant flirt, but at the way Han Jisung blinks and startles, as though surprised he'd said that out loud. He doesn't take it back, however, which must gain Minho's approval, because he tilts his head a little, raising an eyebrow.

"Is that what you came here for, Han Jisung?"

"No, but it was bound to happen eventually," the Rhulsanil shrugs, laughing a little. "What can I say, I have a weakness for cute guys."

Felix's _grava_ almost tangibly flares beside Hyunjin, and he doesn't have to turn to know that his eyes are sparkling. "What a coincidence, so do I!"

"No way." Hyunjin swears the stranger's entire body lights up, his smile even wider and almost as blinding as Felix's. "Another intellectual!"

"You know it," Felix says, winking, and Hyunjin shakes his head.

"I'm literally right here, Felix, don't leave me out of your flirting. Anyway, you're here on business, Han Jisung?"

Jisung sobers up a little, though the smile doesn't fully leave his face, hovering at the edges of his lips. "I am, yeah."

Minho raises his glass of _aunyila_ and tilts his head back toward the marketplace inside the _Uralx_. "Let's talk somewhere more private then, shall we? Care for a drink?"

* * *

Han Jisung seems fascinated by the market, but is even more curious about the little clouds and sparkles in the _aunyila_ , poking at them with the tip of his finger. Hyunjin watches the way his eyes go all big and round along with his mouth, and struggles a little.

In other words, Jisung is a little too cute.

He tries to shake off the feeling, however, since this is someone who comes from an entirely different land, and is here for something presumably important, even though he had opened by calling them handsome. But Minho is saying something as he ushers the Rhulsanil out the back of the _Uralx_ and through a door in the rock face of the mesa, and Hyunjin barely catches it as he tries not to stare.

They enter at the top of another short flight of stairs, with a view of what they've come to see as more of a place for hosting guests than anything else. There's a few pillars of rock scattered around the edges that connect the floor to the ceiling, but they only surround the main space, a vast expanse covered in intricate rugs and low couches and tables. At the far end of the hall sits a dais with some fancier seats, but Minho, Felix, and Hyunjin have definitely agreed they'd rather not use them and feel above anyone else.

Minho leads them all to one of the clusters of couches and sits, prompting Hyunjin and Felix to sit down to one side of him. Jisung takes that as a cue to sit on the next couch in the cluster, partly so he can face them.

"Now then," Minho says. "State your business."

It's as though a switch has been flipped in Jisung. While he'd had round eyes and round cheeks exploring everything and goofing around before, his eyes focus sharply on them and his lips press into a thin line, the picture of focus. His presence, even sitting, makes Hyunjin gravitate toward it, and he'd be lying if he said it wasn't attractive.

"We, as in the Firsts of Rhulsan, heard about the attack on the _Huio_ of Hyoyu, and that something similar may or may not have happened here. Before I continue, I need to confirm what happened here, if anything."

Minho raises an eyebrow. "You didn't hear about how I was attacked?"

Jisung blinks. "No. Chan - er, Bang Chan, who shares my title--"

"Bang Chan?" Felix asks, frowning. "That sounds... familiar..."

"Yeah?" Jisung asks. "You know him?"

Felix shakes his head. "Probably not, actually. Sorry, not that important."

Jisung tilts his head, but Felix waves him off insistently. "Well, alright," he continues. "Anyway, he wasn't really clear about it. But how and why were you attacked?"

Hyunjin drums his fingers, silently sending Minho support, and Minho exhales slowly. "Well, I don't know why it happened but I felt something tugging at me at one of our celebrations, I guess you could say, in the _Uralx_. It was at a small point in my ribs, kind of like there was a string attached there, and was really painful, enough so that I excused myself. Two guys used that to their advantage when I stepped outside, and physically tried to take me out until Hyunjin and Felix got there." He places a hand on Hyunjin's knee, since he's closer to Minho.

"Right, and we still have both of them as prisoners," Felix says. "Hyunjin has been trying to interrogate them."

Jisung blinks. "The thread you're talking about... Can you see it?"

"No," Minho says, confused. "Why, can you?"

Jisung shakes his head. "As far as I know, only Chan can see and feel them. But to build trust a little more, maybe I can ask him to show you the world through his eyes, so you can see what the threads look like to him. It's actually how we knew to come to you. The tugging you felt? If that was a few days ago, then it lines up. At the same time, Chan felt some sort of outside force acting on the threads too, and collapsed."

Minho looks toward Hyunjin and Felix again, starting to tap out a rhythm on Hyunjin's thigh so he can send both of them some of his thoughts.

_If we can connect with this Bang Chan, then we'll both have some answers about what happened to me and also verify Han Jisung's story, just to make sure._

Felix nods silently, sending back an affirmative as he covers Minho's hand with his own, and Hyunjin agrees as well.

"Okay," Hyunjin says. "But we can shut down the connection at any time, yes?"

Jisung nods. "If it helps any, it'll take a considerable amount of _grava_ from both me and Chan to even show you a little bit, and he also has to do the same for our co-First, Seo Changbin, who went to Hyoyu. So he wouldn't have much left to do anything even if we didn't have pure intentions." He grins. "That, or you could take me hostage, especially if I get to see your faces every day."

Felix returns the grin as Minho rolls his eyes. "Why do that when you can be our guest instead?"

"A man after my own heart," Jisung laughs. "Lemme just call for Chan, if you'll give me a moment."

The three of them nod, and Jisung takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. He's attractive when he's focused, sure, but Hyunjin is more interested in the way he seems absolutely still. In Xafyr, all their magic is based on their movements, but Jisung is from Rhulsan, where their magic is largely based on thoughts and feelings, if Hyunjin remembers correctly. He vaguely recalls Jisung telling Minho on their mini-tour of the _Uralx_ that he wants to learn their magic, but hadn't had the chance to visit before. Still, it's almost inspiring to see him in his element, his _grava_ growing more visible and pulsating as he finds this Chan with his thoughts alone.

He must have established a connection a moment later, because he opens his eyes, smiling brightly. "I need all of you to allow my magic to feed into yours," he says. "I'll be kind of a conduit so that Chan can replace my vision with his for a few moments and you all can see what he sees."

Hyunjin has no idea how that would work, but he's impressed, to say the least. He offers to be first so that Felix and Minho can keep an eye on him to make sure, and Jisung nods and sends bits of his _grava_ toward him. When Hyunjin accepts the energy into himself, his breath catches a little at it, something like light and warmth stealing through him insidiously. He assumes that can only be Jisung and Chan's magic, which somehow feels more vibrant than his own.

As he opens his eyes, which he hadn't realized were closed, everything in the room feels tinted, slightly darker than before. But this could be due to the golden strands that weave across the floor, brighter than everything else. The most prominent ones are connected at different places around his, Felix's, and Minho's abdomens, tripping and trailing over each other as they join the ones hanging from Jisung's hands and make their way out of the entrance to the hall. There are more threads connecting all three _Rauldiya_ , and even a few that connect them to Jisung.

"You need to see this," he tells Felix and Minho. "Especially Minho."

The two of them comply, allowing Jisung to feed his _grava_ into them as well, and Felix actually gasps out loud.

"This is the place where it felt like something was yanking on me," Minho says, pressing his palm to his ribs where the threads leave his body.

_That's where your thread connects to my body too._

The voice in Hyunjin's head is warm, though it sounds a little strained. It doesn't sound like Jisung, so it's likely Chan, who continues to speak, sounding a little rushed.

 _I can't keep this up for much longer, but I'm assuming that some outside force is acting upon all these strings that connect us as well as three others. I'm not sure why_ Rauldiya _Lee Minho was able to sense it, though. If you have any information that might help us, or would be otherwise willing to assist, please hear Jisung out._

It seems like he wants to say something else, but the connection fizzles out. Hyunjin is almost disappointed as his vision returns to normal, but he's quickly distracted by how Jisung slumps a little, clearly drained. Still, he musters the energy to speak.

"Yeah, so Chan has always been able to see and feel those threads, and for some reason they connect him to me and Changbin, and to the three of you, and the two _Huio_ over there in Hyoyu. Besides, if both Minho as well as Kim Seungmin and Yang Jeongin of Hyoyu were attacked recently, and there's some sort of outside power acting on the threads between all of us, then it would make sense to combine all of our power together."

Hyunjin knows he has to speak up. "Actually, about this possible foreign power... The prisoner I interrogated today might have more to say on that."

All of their eyes turn to him.

"And you didn't tell us?" Minho asks.

"I was going to," Hyunjin says defensively, "but then Jisung showed up. Then again, it's relevant to all of us, including him."

Felix gives him an encouraging smile. "Tell us, then."

Hyunjin nods. "His name is Byeongkwan, and he said the other prisoner's name is Sehyoon. But he couldn't talk to me out loud because I think someone else was looking through his eyes? Whatever the case, he said that there was someone who would kill his parents and friends if he talked to me or didn't attack Minho, and he wrote a message on the floor with his foot while turned the other way to tell me that. Probably so that whoever it was couldn't see through his eyes."

"Was he using movement for magic like you do?" Jisung asks, eyes wider than before.

Hyunjin nods slowly. "I think so, or he wouldn't have had to move his foot."

"Then he's probably from within Xafyr," Felix frowns. "Which means we have to be careful about whoever was looking through his eyes getting to other people too. And that probably goes for Jisung and the others who are First. Chan and Changbin, you said?"

Jisung nods. "That's also helpful because we know that to some extent, the person can also manipulate the threads and see through others' eyes, but probably not ours because they haven't been able to see through any of us yet that we know of. They've also sent people to Hyoyu, so that's another reason to believe they can't do anything to us individually unless there's some sort of previous contact, maybe? Or you did say he threatened these people into helping him."

"Yeah," Hyunjin confirms. "Do you think we should find out who else in Xafyr could have been affected? Or should we just try to see if Byeongkwan or Sehyoon know that information?"

"Actually," Minho says. "What if we turned the two of them loose?"

"What?" Felix asks, alarmed. "How do we know they won't turn on us?"

Minho shrugs. "We could use some magic like a tracker, and find whoever this power is. Besides, if he's telling the truth, then maybe he could do some spying for us as well. Him and his friend."

"The tracker is a good start," Jisung agrees. "At the very least, we'd get information about where others like him could be, or even listen in on conversations. That way, he wouldn't have to physically send us messages."

Felix exhales. "As long as we're sure it can't be traced."

Hyunjin puts his hand over Felix's, squeezing his fingers. "We have to do it for Xafyr. We don't have any other leads and we don't know who else they'll target."

Protecting the people is the most surefire way to tug at Felix's heartstrings other than a threat to Minho or Hyunjin's safety and well-being, and he swallows. "You're right," he says, steeling himself. "But I don't want to put these people in danger too, if they're innocent."

"If they don't agree to help us, we're back to square one," Minho points out. "If we don't try, we're not going to get anywhere. So I vote we do it. We just have to figure out a way of communicating with them that doesn't alert whoever's looking through their eyes or able to manipulate the threads."

"Exactly," Jisung says, his eyes sparkling. "And with that in mind, I have a favor to ask of you all." He pauses to make sure they're all listening, and continues, "Can you all come to meet with the other Firsts and the two _Huio_? Like, as soon as possible?"

* * *

It takes the _Rauldiya_ some time to discuss it amongst themselves, but they all agree that they should all go. Jisung waits patiently as they make their decision, and excitedly pumps his fist as they agree.

Minho sends out a feeler with his magic for Taecyeon, and the older man comes down to the hall to meet them.

"We'll be out of Xafyr for a few days," Hyunjin says. "We have to meet with the leaders of Rhulsan and Hyoyu on an important matter that can't wait."

Felix links his arm through Hyunjin's. "Don't tell anyone anything that will cause them to worry, and we'll be back before you know it. We trust you, though."

"Are..." Taecyeon's eyes flash with something, and Hyunjin almost identifies it as guilt. "Are you sure? Is this safe?"

"The three of us will be together, and there's never reason for things to be hostile between any of these three lands," Minho assures him.

"Well, alright." Taecyeon bows. "I'll do my best in your absence." He straightens, and his brows furrow slightly. "Though please... Be careful with your magic, all of you."

Hyunjin frowns and stands, letting go of Felix. "Is there something we should be worried about?"

Taecyeon shakes his head, but his gaze slides toward Jisung. "I'm just worried about _Rauldiya_ Minho after the incident we had. But I'm sure you will look out for each other, and be careful with others."

"We will," Minho says, arching an eyebrow. "And I trust you'll do well here."

"Of course." Taecyeon ducks his head, almost another bow, and takes that as a clear dismissal.

Hyunjin is left with the feeling that something is inexplicably wrong, but he ignores it for now, turning back to Felix and Minho as the man leaves. "Do we have to pack or anything?"

"I'll do it for all of us," Felix volunteers cheerfully. "We don't need much, but I'd rather not take chances."

"I'll go with you," Minho says, sending him a small smile which Felix happily returns in full force. "Hyunjin, stay with Jisung?" The two of them wait for Hyunjin's nod before moving toward the stairs to the outside of the mesa, Felix holding onto Minho's arm.

"So," Jisung starts. "Are you three always like that?"

Hyunjin looks at him, confused. "Like what?"

"Like, gay and hanging off each other and stuff." He backtracks. "Wait, not because I think it's bad. That's me and Chan and Changbin too, to be honest."

Hyunjin can't help an amused snort. "Sounds like we'll all fit right in, then."

He's half-joking, but Jisung's eyes widen comically. "That's what I was thinking! After all, it's impossible not to love Chan, and Changbin's awful imitations of cuteness eventually win people over too."

It's nice, actually, how fondly Jisung talks about the other two Firsts of Rhulsan. Hyunjin can read it in the quirk of his lips, the way his shoulders drop a little.

"Well, no one can deny loving Felix, so I guess we're even."

"Not Minho?"

Hyunjin smiles a little, thinking about it. "To be honest, Minho too. But don't tell him I said that."

Jisung only laughs. "No promises," he singsongs.

If this is what Jisung is like, then Hyunjin can't wait to meet the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be Changbin in Hyoyu - for now, though, do those preventative things against COVID and support social justice movements. 
> 
> Find me on twitter at @hiraethstill if you ever want to chat about this story or SKZ.


	6. building bridges (spider's web)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bros I actually stuck to the schedule this week? What is this? Oh that's right, the power of being on break. 
> 
> Lemme know if this chapter is too information-heavy, but I tried to space it out. Hopefully there's enough soft/gay moments to tide over the bit of not-fluff. (Basically, this entire chapter was an excuse to have everyone love on Jeongin.) 
> 
> **GLOSSARY**
> 
> slyf - a dessert from Hyoyu, similar to tea jello. the top part is jello encasing a tiny plant of some sort that's coated in a fine dusting of sugar first, and the base underneath the jello is cheesecake, sometimes with frozen fruit embedded in it.
> 
> wyhr - another dessert from Hyoyu, similar to moon pie but with more layers and a thick grayish-blue topping sauce that covers it and flows off the sides in constant motion. silvery swirls and patterns follow the flow, shifting and changing.

_Threads tangled and gray_

_Both a blessing and a curse_

_Hang in the balance_

* * *

To be honest, Jeongin is a little intimidated by Seo Changbin at first.

It's hard not to be, with the sharp, intelligent eyes and the solid upper-body muscle. He introduces himself with his full name and title, and almost does the signature salute of formal Rhulsan etiquette before he catches himself. However, that was probably the first tell that he isn't as scary as he seems.

As Jeongin welcomes him into the entrance hall, he can't help the small wave of satisfaction as Changbin's eyes widen at the high vaulted ceiling inlaid with glass windows that soar above the main area. Gold leaf runs down columns and details around the edges, complementing the white background of walls and other structures. Since the sun is starting to dip on the horizon, chandeliers float around at ground level, softly starting to illuminate the space. Jeongin could describe it, but Changbin already seems intent on drinking in every detail, less than discreet.

"What's the water for?" he asks curiously, lifting his foot and watching the thin sheen flowing across the floor fill in the gap it left behind. He sounds like he's trying to restrain himself from reaching down to touch it.

Jeongin smiles a little, amused. "Usually for transportation around the _Bhuwyn_ ," he says. "It's easy to go between floors or empty spaces that way."

Changbin's eyes light up a little. "Would it be okay if you showed me?"

"Uh, sure?" Jeongin is a little taken aback by it, likely because he's stopped really thinking about the workings of the _Bhuwyn_. It's kind of nice, how familiar it feels now to navigate, and Changbin's question makes him think about how much he's settled into his role here in such a short amount of time. "We have to use it to rise to one of the higher levels anyway."

He steps forward and into the ring of floor space around the central area, and sings a short melody to solidify the water in a square around their feet, connecting the central area to the wall. The slab rises slowly, but Changbin isn't watching it like Jeongin thought he would, rather looking at Jeongin himself.

"What?" Jeongin asks, somewhat self-consciously.

Changbin sucks his lower lip between his teeth, and Jeongin subconsciously follows the action. "You have a really unique voice. Pretty."

It doesn't sound like flirting, just something honest and genuine that he'd thought of and had to share. For some reason, that makes Jeongin all the more pleased about it, and he grins sheepishly.

"Ah well, you should hear Seungmin's voice."

Changbin frowns. "I haven't heard _Huio_ Kim Seungmin's voice, but while I'm sure it's beautiful, I wasn't comparing you to him. Or anyone."

The water underneath them has stopped moving, indicating their stop at one of the rings of balconies overlooking the main floor. But Jeongin stands there for a moment, staring. Because really, Changbin had gotten to the heart of the matter in so few words, and Jeongin had only met the man about ten minutes ago.

"Well," he says, finding his voice again. "Thank you."

Changbin smiles, a small and private thing, and steps onto the balcony. "You're welcome. Which way?"

Jeongin leads them a little ways down the hallway and presses through the door into a smaller room with a wall of glass overlooking a courtyard at the far end. Scattered around the room are fountains and ponds with lotuses and candles floating gently along the surface, and a circular marble conference table at the center.

Changbin shakes his head. "The _Bhuwyn_ just gets more beautiful the more I see."

Laughing, Jeongin agrees. "I was the same way recently when I got here. Let's sit and I'll get the _soniri_ to get us snacks while we wait for Seungmin, yeah?"

He makes sure Changbin is seated at the table before trilling a soft high note, and moments later, the door opens again as two _soniri_ float through the doorway, settling on Jeongin's shoulders. He gives them a couple pats and hums some requests to them softly, gesturing toward Changbin. One of them rubs its antennae together and hops off his shoulder, the other stopping to land on Changbin's lap briefly before leaping away.

"They don't understand spoken language?" Changbin asks, and Jeongin nods. Before he can answer, the door opens again, and Seungmin strides in.

"The _soniri_ can only communicate through magic of the breath," he explains, pulling out a chair to sit down. " _Arowen_ , right?" When Changbin nods, he smiles wider. " _Arowen_ and welcome. I'm Seungmin."

Changbin scratches at his neck sheepishly. "Uh, I actually knew that before coming."

"Did your research or something?" Jeongin asks curiously.

"Yes and no." Changbin glances between the two of them. "It relates to why I've come here, actually. Bang Chan, one of the Firsts of Rhulsan along with me, is connected to both of you in a way, through golden threads that we thought only he could see and feel. In following the threads, we were able to see the two of you and a woman in a meeting, and did our research from there. Don't worry, we couldn't hear anything that was said."

"Interesting," Seungmin says. "We didn't really go through that complicated a process to find out your name. When you were standing outside our doors and triggered caution from our defenses, we just used whatever was touching you at the time to determine your name and title. Jeongin just had to look cool by greeting you while pretending to know everything, probably."

"Guilty as charged," Jeongin grins. "But anyway, if you went to all that trouble, you probably have a good reason for a diplomatic mission here instead of sending an advisor or someone else."

Nodding, Changbin crosses his arms. "The threads that I mentioned - Chan showed us that they connect him to all of us sitting here as well as Han Jisung, the other First of Rhulsan, and the three current _Rauldiya_ of Xafyr. Recently, there was news of something that happened to one of them, and Chan felt the effects of it too, so we think that someone is trying to manipulate these connections. But we didn't know much about what happened on their end, and we had clearer details of an attack here. Which you stopped, I believe?"

Seungmin winces. "Jeongin and I, as well as some of our people, were able to take some of them prisoner, but it seems that there were a few people planted in multiple cities that caused a lot of damage before we could get to other cities than the one we were in. They were all along the route that we took for Jeongin's _Vaineu_ , a ritual we have to show new _Huio_ to the people, so it's likely that they were trying to target us specifically."

Changbin frowns, drumming his fingers against his arm. "That would check out. The same thing was probably happening in Xafyr, then, targeting the _Rauldiya_ , and all of you have connections to Chan."

As they sit there, digesting the information, the _soniri_ from earlier enter again through the door, sending a tray through the air toward them to settle on the table in front of Changbin. He looks at them curiously, but makes sure to thank the _soniri_ by bowing to them even if he can't communicate with them directly. Jeongin thinks it's kind of cute, and a glance at Seungmin tells him the other thinks the same.

"You're going to have to tell me what these are," Changbin says, eyeing the snacks and the long-handled utensils.

"Or you could play roulette and see which ones you like," Jeongin laughs.

"What? Did you poison them?" Changbin sounds so scared with his eyes wide open that Jeongin and Seungmin both start to laugh harder.

"Why?" Seungmin asks, unable to wipe the grin off his face. "Did you do something that we should poison you for?"

"I hope not!"

Jeongin finally gathers himself enough to answer. "This one here is _wyhr_." He points to one dessert that looks like an overflowing bowl, but the overflow keeps flowing endlessly with silver swirls and patterns lazily following the flow. Underneath, Jeongin knows there's layers of cake and filling. "And this one is _slyf_." The other one he points to is more gelatinous, clear and encasing a plant in the top portion, with cheesecake underneath. "Those are my favorites, anyway."

"Okay," Changbin says, sounding braver than before. "Guess I'll try those first."

He doesn't bring up business again until he's properly tried and complimented both dishes and a few more, and heartily goes to finish off his plate as Jeongin nudges them back on track.

"So," he starts. "I'm guessing that it would be better to talk this out with all the people it concerns? Which means we would have to set up a meeting with the Firsts and the _Rauldiya_."

Changbin swallows and nods. "Actually, yeah. We sent Han Jisung to deliver basically the same message to Xafyr, so hopefully we've done the work of setting it up for you already."

"How thoughtful of you," Seungmin says. "We might not have much information to contribute, though, since we haven't questioned the prisoners we do have right now in the face of ongoing reparations."

"Don't worry about it. The more heads we put together the better, and this concerns all three lands." He grimaces slightly. "I'm sorry to have to drag you into this, but do you think we could all go as soon as possible?"

Jeongin hums something softly, trying to gauge Seungmin's thoughts. "We can go tomorrow," he says carefully, leaving it open to refute.

But Seungmin nods. "We don't know when this unseen force will strike next, so it's better to act early. But I'd rather not travel at night, and you've clearly made a long journey here, First Seo Changbin."

Jeongin feels a little weird about it when Changbin bows a little, too formal for his liking. "Well then, I can find accommodations in the main city."

"Pshh, you're staying in the _Bhuwyn_ ," Jeongin says, leaving no room for argument. "We have way too many rooms here anyway."

Changbin blinks, but starts to smile a little. "It would be an honor, _Huio_ Yang Jeongin."

"Jeongin."

"Huh?" Changbin tilts his head in confusion.

Jeongin rushes on, waving his hand in embarrassment. "Just... Jeongin is fine. The titles and such make it all stuffy and formal." He doesn't know why he feels especially strongly about it with Changbin, but maybe it's in part because he's intrigued, and wants to know him more than just the First of Rhulsan, given their conversation about comparisons earlier.

Changbin starts to smile. "Alright, then. Jeongin it is."

"And Seungmin," the other _Huio_ chimes in.

"And Seungmin," Changbin repeats, his smile widening. "I guess in that case, just Changbin is fine."

Jeongin grins. "Okay, Just Changbin, let's go get you a room."

"Hey!"

Jeongin can't help but laugh the whole way there.

* * *

The next morning, the three of them meet bright and early, before the sun has risen. Jeongin, admittedly, hadn't been able to sleep much because he'd been worrying about the safety of Hyoyu, but he consoles himself with the thought that at least it would be left in Jamie's capable hands while they're in Rhulsan.

He's taken to sleeping next to Seungmin more often than not, and last night had been one of those nights. The two of them rise and take turns washing without needing to say anything, then pack lightly and exit the front of the castle, where Jamie herself and a couple of sleepy _soniri_ are there to see them off.

"As much as I like you," Jamie is saying to Changbin as they draw closer, "I expect the two of them back here safely and in one piece." There's the thin edge of steel to her voice that Jeongin's come to fear, just like the edges of one of her knives.

Changbin's Adam's apple is visible as he swallows. "Yes, of course."

"Good."

"Jamie," Seungmin complains. "We can take care of ourselves."

Jamie just shrugs. "I'm not worried about that. But Hyoyu really needs you, and I'm still against the two of you going without anyone else after what happened."

Jeongin holds out his arms to offer her a hug, which she accepts. "We'll be back soon," he says. "Thanks for worrying, though." He'll never tell her that she's like an older sister to him and Seungmin, though he's sure she feels like one.

Her face softens as she pulls away. "Okay. Go be heroes or whatever."

"Will do." Jeongin turns to Seungmin and Changbin. "Ready?"

Changbin nods, tearing his wary gaze away from Jamie as she hugs Seungmin. "Are we each transporting ourselves or switching off carrying everyone?"

"Switching off is probably better," Jeongin says.

"Alright." Changbin straightens to his full height, and even though he's noticeably shorter than both Jeongin and Seungmin, his presence is solid and commanding. "I'll go first, so you both have the freedom to stop me if need be. Might satisfy Park Jamie, at least."

Jamie laughs. "Good choice," she says.

The First reaches out on either side to offer Seungmin and Jeongin his hands, and they each take one, waving to Jamie. Changbin's brow furrows in concentration, and Jeongin realizes it's the first time he's seen Changbin use his magic. It's kind of fascinating, to be honest, to watch him use just his thoughts to lift them all into the air, slowly at first so that they can wave to Jamie and the _soniri_. The _Bhuwyn_ shrinks as they rise higher, and then Changbin grins at them, squeezing their hands.

"Hold on tight," he says, and leans forward.

That's all the warning they get as they build speed, shooting forward until the waterways of Hyoyu below them become a blur, and thin out slowly into grasslands. Changbin doesn't talk much so he can conserve energy, and the other two are content to watch land pass underneath. Both Seungmin and Jeongin take their turns carrying the three of them as well, and their combined efforts have them within sights of the _Hireuln_ , as Changbin had called it, sooner than expected.

As far as Jeongin knows, neither he nor Seungmin have been here before, but he's sure both of them are impressed as they draw closer. The imposing stone walls and perimeter are clearly built for practicality, but there is a sort of charm to its austere appearance, especially sprouting out of the forested mountainside in the noonday sun. Jeongin follows Changbin's lead as he guides them down toward the front of the fortress, and he can see a cluster of figures waiting by the slowly opening entrance in the outer walls.

One of them is in similar clothing to Changbin, boots and belts apparent as they draw closer. He's made circles around his eyes with his hands, as if trying to see them better, and then excitedly waves, jumping up and down. The other three look amused by this, one of them even laughing a little.

"Changbinnie!" the Rhulsanil yells as they finally land. He runs directly into Changbin to give him a tight hug.

"Oi," Changbin says, trying to look put out but failing as a fond smile tugs at the corners of his lips. "It's only been two days, Jisung. Also, we have guests."

"They can have hugs too!" Jisung protests as he lets Changbin go and turns to Jeongin. "Oh, wow, they're even cuter in person."

Jeongin blinks. "Sorry, what."

"Changbin didn't tell you how we kinda saw you before meeting you?" Jisung asks.

"No, he did, but..."

Changbin shakes his head, turning toward the entrance to the stronghold. "Ignore him, he's already gay for all of you."

"And for good reason!" Jisung declares indignantly. But he turns toward the entrance too, where there's someone standing there to greet them, a man with a kind face and as much muscle as Changbin. There's a sort of commanding authority that leaks out of every pore of his as he moves closer, drawing Jeongin in. When he smiles, however, there's nothing but warmth in it, and he ducks his head slightly in a bow toward all of them.

"Welcome, everyone. Thank you for coming on such short notice. Let's move this inside, shall we?"

Jeongin watches as the man, who can only be Bang Chan, lets everyone else go in first after Changbin, Jisung hanging back to latch onto his arm. Somehow, he finds himself next to one of the _Rauldiya_ as they enter, the one with bright eyes and freckles dotting his cheeks. Jeongin may or may not think they're cute, but he's a little too shy to say anything, and the man doesn't seem focused on him, glancing over his shoulder.

"It can't be," he murmurs softly to himself.

"Pardon?"

The man looks up at Jeongin, startled. "Sorry, just talking to myself." He brightens considerably as he makes the effort to smile at Jeongin, his entire demeanor changing. "I'm Felix, by the way."

"Jeongin," he returns, deciding it's probably better to follow the other's example and not get too caught up in titles. "You're from Xafyr?"

As soon as he says it, he knows it's a stupid question, but Felix simply grins. "Yep. Along with Minho and Hyunjin." He gestures ahead of them to where the _Rauldiya_ with the shorter brown hair is walking with Changbin and the one with longer blonde hair is walking with Seungmin. "I know it's kinda not great circumstances to meet, but it _is_ nice to meet you."

Jeongin smiles a little, almost taken aback by how warm Felix is despite the startlingly deep pitch of his voice. "You too." It feels like an unfinished thought, so he doesn't think as he tacks on, "I like your freckles."

"Oh!" When Jeongin finally makes himself look up, Felix's ears are turning a lovely shade of crimson, creeping into his cheeks and neck. "Er, thank you! Usually only Minho or Hyunjin say that. Or they... Anyway!" He brings up his hands to cover as much of his face as possible, and all Jeongin can think is _cute_. "Thank you!"

"Er, I was being honest," he says, feeling his own ears start to burn.

Felix is saved from answering as they enter a room that looks a little like a library. Changbin and Minho have gotten there first, sitting on one side of a smaller table, and Jeongin and Felix go to sit across from them as Hyunjin and Seungmin fill in the seats between them. Chan and Jisung take the remaining spots, and Jeongin can almost hear Chan's breath catch a little as he looks around at all of them.

"Shall we start with introductions, then?" As the eight of them nod, he continues, "My name, as you probably know by now, is Bang Chan. Please call me Chan. As of right now, the threads that we talked to you about are strengthening between those of you that haven't met before now, so I suppose it was fate that all of us were meant to be sitting here together. I'll pass it off to Jisung."

Jisung grins and launches into an introduction, calling himself the most handsome out of the three Firsts. The others talk in turn until they've gone around the entire table, and it feels almost easy, or it would if there wasn't a dark cloud lingering in the background.

"Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's talk. I know Jisung and Changbin have briefed you of most things already, but we need to know whether you have anything that could lead us toward why Minho and Hyoyu were attacked, and how."

"We know that somehow he has control over my connection with you," Minho says, leaning back in his chair. "And that Hyunjin said something about being able to see through other people."

Hyunjin nods. "One of our prisoners turned his face away while sending me a message, probably so that the person couldn't see the message through his eyes. I checked on him before we left and it seems like the person can't do much more than that, or has that power over so many people that he doesn't have enough power distributed to individuals to take control of them or sense their thoughts or anything."

Jeongin feels a chill go up his spine at the words, but Changbin narrows his eyes a little. "Does that mean we can try to take control back from him? Or would that only be temporary?"

"I don't know," Hyunjin says, frowning. "Is Chan able to control the threads?"

"Not exactly," Chan says. "Or at least, not to the extent that this unknown entity can. I tried to tug on the thread between myself and Minho after the attack, but didn't get a response, so I assume he can't control it either. But he's the only other person who's felt it at all."

Minho's eyes widen. "So that was you? I felt it, or at least once."

"I tried a few times afterward," Chan says, shoulders slumping a little. "So maybe the interference caused some sort of disrupt strong enough for the moment, but healed soon after?"

"Do you think he can sense if you actively tried to manipulate the bond?" Jisung asks slowly. "Or would using that as bait be too risky?"

There's silence for a few moments. Jeongin doesn't know where to look, all of them with pensive, drawn faces. He doesn't like the implication that any of them could get hurt, but maybe he could offer his own connection to experiment with. As he's opening his mouth, however, Minho speaks up again.

"We should use my thread with Chan."

"No!" Felix shouts, then looks around sheepishly at their surprised faces. "Just... We saw you get hurt once because of this. I don't want that again."

Minho shakes his head. "It's the most logical choice, since I was able to feel it at least for a short while when this person tried to take matters into their own hands."

"But you could get hurt!" Hyunjin pleads. "We have no idea how to control it!"

"I don't like it either," Chan says resolutely. "We need a different route for this."

He's barely finished speaking, however, before he lets out a cry of anguish, at the same time as Jisung, Minho, Hyunjin, and Felix. The five of them are clutching at themselves, their attempts to claw at their skin and clothing apparently futile. Jeongin tries to grab at Felix's shoulders, since he's the closest, but he doesn't know what's wrong, or how to stop it.

"The threads," Chan chokes out, trying to pull at empty air. "I don't know what's happening, but they're... They're turning..."

He coughs and doubles over, and Jeongin shoots to his feet in alarm, trying to take stock of the situation. Five of them are currently struggling against something that he can't see, and that leaves him, Seungmin, and Changbin. What would be really helpful right about now would be the ability to see the threads or whatever is happening to them.

"What can you all see?" he asks urgently.

"Not really see," Felix manages next to him, nearly curled into a ball at this point. "But feel, yes... It's like a yanking." His breaths are coming quicker and more shallow with exertion.

"Trying to rip it apart," Hyunjin agrees raggedly. He's slowly slumped off his chair, lying on the ground.

Changbin grits his teeth, a hand on both Jisung's and Minho's shoulders. "So they can feel it, but Chan can also see it. We need to have Chan show us what he's seeing and go from there." He doesn't let go of their shoulders but inches closer to Chan.

"Too dangerous," Chan breathes.

"Please," Seungmin says, his voice rising a little as he tries not to panic. "We have to try. Let us see."

The three of them share a look, and look toward Chan, who finally gestures toward Changbin. Changbin gently lets go of Jisung and Minho and makes his way over, Seungmin and Jeongin trailing behind him. Jeongin's heart is thudding against his chest, but he reaches out with the other two, Chan allowing them to share his vision as Seungmin and Jeongin sing, soft but urgent.

Changbin had described the threads as golden, and they are, for the most part. But each connection between Chan and the others are stretched taut, bent in a way that makes Jeongin think they'll snap. From the midpoint, a sickly silver color spreads, tainting each golden thread with spreading disease.

"We have to stop it, or take it over or something," Seungmin says.

Changbin puts an arm around Chan's shoulders. "Do you know how?" 

"Maybe we can use our connections to Chan and just expand them through him," Jeongin offers. "If you have a better idea, we'll do that first."

Both of them shake their heads.

"It's our best bet," Seungmin says. "Sorry, Chan, but we'll have to funnel our magic through you."

Chan nods weakly, and the three of them get to work, summoning whatever remains of _grava_ they hadn't used while traveling to spread through the threads they share with Chan. Jeongin can see the sickly silver slowing, but it's still maddeningly present, still tainting every bond Chan has. Their magic seems to have most effect through Changbin, who's still holding onto Chan's shoulders, so Seungmin and Jeongin hold onto his arm, hoping the contact helps.

Jeongin can feel himself start to drain as the threads finally begin to loosen, the silver retreating. His head is swimming to stay afloat, but the gold is slowly taking over like spilled paint, washing back the silver in slightly stronger tides.

 _It's working,_ he thinks desperately, and he can feel Changbin and Seungmin's exhausted assent as more of a feeling than anything. It's an enormous relief as the last of the silver fades into gold, and he can finally relinquish his grip on Chan's arm, on the magical bond between them all, on the swimming visions of gold threads in his pounding skull.

In other words, Jeongin blacks out.

* * *

The first thing Jeongin senses as he slowly drifts into consciousness is that someone is holding his hand. It's kind of nice, actually, even though he isn't usually one for skinship. As his brain slowly starts to take in more details, he can tell that this person's hands are smaller than Seungmin's, and that there's something soft resting next to his waist. Slowly, he cracks one eye open to test the waters, then blinks it closed again as he tries to adjust to the light. Immediately, his hand is dropped as the someone in question gasps.

"You're awake! You're gonna have to forgive me for the hand holding, I couldn't help myself when you looked so peaceful."

Jeongin tries again, and this time, he's a little more successful in finally opening his eyes, enough to squint at the person sitting cross-legged next to him on the bed.

"Hey," Jisung says, wincing when it comes out too loud. He tries again, softer this time. "Welcome awake, Jeongin. How are you feeling?"

"Like death," Jeongin croaks. His throat feels scratchy and funny, and his limbs heavy. "How long was I out? Why'd you stop holding my hand?"

"Oh. I can keep doing it." Jisung looks a little sheepish, and reaches out to take Jeongin's hand again, to which he complies without thinking much, and blames it on the way he feels his stomach doing a slow turn instead of the little spark of relief in Jisung's eyes. "You were out for uh, almost a day maybe? Seungmin woke up not too long ago, but as you can see, he refused to leave you."

Jeongin turns his head a little to look in the same direction as Jisung, and finds that the soft thing against his side had been Seungmin's hair, his head pillowed on his arms as he sleeps with his lower half still in a chair. There's a lump in Jeongin's throat, and he reaches out with his free hand to gently pat Seungmin's hair, before giving up and gently carding his fingers through it instead.

"Sorry for making you all worry."

Jisung shakes his head vehemently. "We only worry because we care, you know? Speaking of which..."

The door to the room opens, and Chan enters, rounding the bed until he stands next to Seungmin. "Jeongin," he says, almost gravely. "I'm so glad you're awake. I'm so sorry for putting you through that."

Jeongin frowns, brief flashes of the day before appearing in his head. "You didn't make me do anything. Is everyone okay?"

Chan grimaces, clearly not buying it. "Well for the moment, yes. There's more I have to talk to you all about, but right now, rest and food is more important. Do you think you can stomach something?"

Jeongin nods, slowly trying to sit up. The good news is that nothing hurts, even though he feels weighed down by a bag of rocks. He'll survive, probably. "Have Seungmin and Changbin eaten?" he asks.

"Yeah, we made them eat something, though this one was more stubborn about it," Jisung says, jutting his chin toward Seungmin. The latter is starting to stir, likely disturbed by Jeongin shuffling around.

"Jeongin?" he mumbles sleepily.

Jeongin goes back to stroking Seungmin's hair until the other sluggishly sits up. "I'm right here."

Seungmin's eyes are now wide and anxious, and without warning, he throws his arms around Jeongin, burying his face in his shoulder. Jeongin is a little taken aback, but Jisung lets his hand go so that he can hold Seungmin, for once feeling as though the other is the younger of them, so small in his arms.

"Hey... It's okay. We're all okay."

Seungmin nods against him, and only pulls back enough to search his face. "You're sure you're okay, though? You were out the longest."

Jeongin smiles in an attempt to reassure him. "I could probably use some food," he admits, which startles Seungmin into a laugh.

"I've sent a message for some, and for everyone else to join us here," Chan says gently. "We're all going to need some rest before figuring out our next move."

Nodding, Jeongin scoots closer to Jisung so there's room for Seungmin to sit against the headboard with him. Chan sits on the edge of the bed as the other four burst through the door, Changbin carrying a tray of food.

"Is he awake?" Felix asks anxiously, and breathes a sigh of relief when Jeongin lifts a hand to wave at him. "Jeonginnie!"

He bounds over and launches himself onto the bed, sitting next to Jisung and reaching for Jeongin's hands. "We were all so worried about you..."

Jeongin is a little overwhelmed, especially as Hyunjin, Minho, and Changbin join the rest of them on the bed, but not in a particularly bad way. He'd only just met some of them, but they already care about him so much, and he can't really feel anything but relief and warmth about it.

"I didn't do that much," he tries, but even Hyunjin and Minho are having none of it.

"You helped save all of us, along with Seungmin and Changbin," Minho says, his tone brooking no argument. "We're in your debt."

Shaking his head, Jeongin smiles sheepishly. "We all would've done the same thing."

Minho sighs and takes the tray from Changbin, placing it across Jeongin's lap and picking up some of it to push toward his mouth. Jeongin swallows the bite in one go, and it brings an amused smile to Minho's lips, though there's still a little furrow to his eyebrows that betrays his worry.

"We'll have to work on that," he sighs, and Jeongin doesn't think he's talking about the food.

Minho continues to feed him as Jisung starts up a conversation with everyone, leaning into Felix's side as the latter strokes his thumb across the back of Jeongin's hands. Jeongin is silently grateful that the attention is not all focused on him, and goes through the entire tray with Minho's help, starting to feel better.

"Thank you," he says to Minho finally, starting to get up to take the tray back to the kitchens, but Chan reaches over Minho to put his hand on Jeongin's shoulder, firmly pressing him back down and taking the tray himself.

"No need, we'll just do this," he assures Jeongin, holding the tray over the edge of the bed and letting it go so that it starts to float out the door. "It'll go back on its own."

"Does that mean we're going to talk more now?" Jeongin asks, settling back against the headboard. Chan frowns, sitting down again just behind Minho, and the two of them share a look. Minho drums his fingers against Chan's knee, and Chan's mouth turns down at the corners a little.

"I want to be absolutely sure that you feel rested and back to full strength," Chan says out loud. "But we also have no idea when this person will attack next, and I have some potentially helpful but also bad news."

Jeongin doesn't want them to wait on his account, and he does feel exponentially better. "We should talk about it now, then," he says, trying to sound firm.

"But--"

"No buts," Jeongin says. "I'm really fine, Chan." He smiles widely at the Rhulsanil, hoping it will assuage some of the worries that clearly rest on his shoulders. Chan looks like he carries the weight of the world, and maybe Jeongin will pry into that later, when he's not bedridden and the safety of their kingdoms doesn't hang precariously in the background.

Minho touches Chan's arm gently. "He says he's fine. We can always make him rest if need be."

Chan sighs. "Well, alright." He smiles tentatively back at Jeongin, dimple and all, before turning to the rest of them. "Everyone... We have more to discuss."

The larger conversation dwindles down as they all turn to face him.

"Is this about the silver thing?" Jisung asks. Clearly, some of them had been talking while Jeongin was asleep.

Chan nods and maneuvers around Minho a little to sit closer to Jeongin so that everyone can see him. "Yesterday, as we were... attacked, for lack of better word, the threads were turning silvery and kind of flickering."

Seungmin nods. "We were able to see that when we took some of your sight. They've never done that before?"

"No," Chan says gravely. "It was almost like a disease. And it only affected five of us - the three _Rauldiya_ and Jisung as well as me - until the rest of you stepped in. Before yesterday, we only had one other attack, and that was on the connection between me and Minho. I didn't think about it much then, but the silver appeared that time too, but disappeared after a while."

Minho seems to catch on. "You're saying that since I shared an active magical connection between then and yesterday with Hyunjin and Felix, then Jisung and you when he came to Xafyr, somehow this unseen force is able to act on that?"

"But Seungmin, Changbin, and I also fed our _grava_ into Chan yesterday," Jeongin starts slowly, a sickly fear starting to worm its way back into his stomach.

Chan exhales in a long breath. "I want to try and confirm it, but I don't want to use our connections, and I'd advise you all not to either until we know how to fight it or completely destroy it."

Changbin looks thoughtful, and reaches out across Jeongin and Seungmin's legs toward Chan. "Take my hand," he says.

Confused, Chan complies and closes his fingers around Changbin's palm. A few moments later, he squints at something, and his eyes widen. "I need more of your hands," he says, spreading his fingers out with palms up in the middle of their cluster.

Everyone else reaches forward to grasp at Chan's fingers and forearms, and he swivels his head, peering closely at seemingly empty space.

"What is it?" Hyunjin prods, slightly impatient.

Chan slowly lets go of all of them, and Jeongin gets the feeling he's not going to like what Chan says next even before he speaks.

"I think we need to retrace our steps back to Xafyr. The answer to how they got to Minho is there, not here, and now we're all at risk."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's a bit of a cliffhanger, hate those myself. But with all luck I'll have the next chapter up by next Wednesday, and we'll get Felix's perspective. Thanks for bearing with me. Also if you're dying to see interactions between certain characters let me know and we'll see what we can do. 
> 
> As always, do those COVID-prevention things and support social justice. Feel free to talk to me at @hiraethstill on the bird app.


	7. from the ashes (two steps ahead)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all, I'm actually early for once. I went back and changed a detail from the first chapter so that a certain character (you'll probably know who) has a name now. 
> 
> On another note, I now have a master glossary for all the terms of this world thus far. You can find it [ here ](https://docs.zoho.eu/file/11130a662a7b6c4de411c8ee9c133b7653002) and I'll be updating it until the end of the fic. Happy reading!

_Faces old and new_

_Unsure where loyalties lie_

_Ambush on all sides_

* * *

Even clinging onto Hyunjin with all his limbs isn't helping Felix sleep.

Usually, if he can't sleep, he doesn't know the reason. But this time, as he lies awake staring at the opposite corner of the four-poster bed over the curve of Hyunjin's shoulder, he can't get the thoughts of knowing Chan from somewhere out of his head.

They'd all pestered Chan about giving them more information about what they were facing, but all he'd said was something about the silver not being completely gone from their connections, which means that they would have to try and stop sharing magical energy so as not to alert the foreign power about their activity and incite another attack on purpose. They'd all been uneasy about it, because using magic is as easy as breathing to all of them, but agreed it was probably for the best for now.

It's harder for Felix, especially, because he thrives off of touch and he has to consciously think about not putting magic into casual affection. But if it will buy them more time, he's prepared to do it.

His thoughts wander again, back to Chan. Back in time, when there wasn't so much weight on his shoulders.

After shuffling a little, Felix is still wide awake, and exhales a soft puff of air in defeat. Slowly, carefully, he detaches an arm and a leg from Hyunjin, and tries not to jostle Minho behind him as he sits up. Thankfully, neither of them stir as he scoots under the covers and toward the edge of the bed, popping out from underneath the blankets and lowering himself to the floor. Looking back, he sees that he's moved the blankets a fair bit, so he rounds the bed softly to tuck them both back in before slipping out the door as quietly as possible.

Outside the room they'd been given, he heaves a sigh of relief as he sags against the door, but it's quickly gone as he realizes he doesn't know his way around the _Hireuln_. There are three ways he can go from what he can see, and he doesn't know which one leads to an outdoor area, and is pretty sure they branch out into more paths.

He's trying to weigh his options and decide whether it would be worth it to just pick a path and worry about getting back later when he sees a door to his right open and someone step out, pausing to look back into the room before shutting the door behind him.

It's Chan.

Felix is about to call out softly to him when the other turns, facing Felix's direction, and falters to a stop. The two of them stare each other for a beat too long not to be considered homoerotic before Chan finally steps forward, drawing close to Felix.

"What are you doing up?" he asks, somehow managing to convey exasperated concern in a less-than-hushed whisper.

"Couldn't sleep," Felix says simply. "What about you? Could ask you the same thing."

Chan doesn't look taken aback at being asked about his own sleeping habits, so it must be a regular thing for him to be up so late. "Sleep and I aren't usually on good terms," he shrugs. "It's better now that Jisung and Changbin let me sleep with them and drag me away from work, though."

He rushes through the last bit, as if trying to get it out and assuage Felix's worries before he can say anything. Felix wonders, a little sadly, how long sleep has been a problem for him, but he's glad that having the other two around helps.

"I get it," he says gently. "It's a lot easier for me to sleep if I'm hugging Hyunjin or Minho. And well... If you ever want hugs to sleep, I would be happy to do it." He's grateful that the only light in the corridor comes from a wall sconce several feet down and the moonlight streaming in through a window, or Chan would definitely be able to see his blush by now.

"Oh," Chan says, and Felix could swear that he's blushing too. "I... Well, I guess that would be nice, if you're up to it. But I wasn't planning on going back to sleep anytime soon tonight."

Felix tilts his head a little in confusion. "Then where are you going?"

"Just... to the grounds, maybe the walls. Thought some fresh air would do me good." From what little Felix can see of his face, he looks tired, and Felix doesn't like the thought of him being alone out there. 

"Take me with you!" he says, as brightly as he can muster.

"What?" Chan shakes his head vehemently. "I can't do that. You should go back to sleep." Felix sticks out his lower lip in a pout even though he's fairly sure Chan can't see it well. "But you'll be by yourself, and you're the core of all our connections. What if something happens to you?"

The First stares at him for a beat, likely gauging his options. After a long moment, Felix grins, knowing that Chan is caving.

"Alright," he says finally. "We can stick together."

"Yay!" Felix cheers quietly, and grabs Chan's hand. "Which way?"

To his surprise, Chan doesn't pull away, just lets Felix swing their hands between them. "That way," he says softly, nodding in the direction over Felix's shoulder.

Felix is happy to just take in their surroundings as they move through a maze of hallways. Every path seems to have more branching off of it, but Chan leads them confidently through them all until they reach the familiar area with the front entrance that leads to the grounds. The night sky is dotted with clouds, and Felix feels the chill seep into his bones before he shakes his leg to allow some magical warmth to spread in a layer across his body.

"So," he starts, blowing little dragon puffs of cold night air and grinning, "how do we get up onto the walls?"

Chan's smile is a reflexive thing, like he hadn't planned on being so fond. "We can just do it the easy way and walk," he says.

He lets go of Felix's hand and a moment later, the air in front of him condenses into the shape of stairs, leading directly to the ramparts. There's a twinkle in his eye as he looks back at Felix. "Shall we?"

"Isn't that showing off?" Felix complains, but he puts a foot on the translucent stairs behind Chan as the other starts his ascent.

Chan just chuckles. "Maybe I want to be a little impressive."

"You don't have to try," Felix says genuinely. "I already thought you were impressive upon meeting you, and Jisung was telling me about how you singlehandedly changed the ruling and heir system of Rhulsan. So no need."

Chan pauses with one foot on the rampart, and Felix hopes that wasn't too much. But the First is smiling when he turns to look back at Felix. "That's true, I guess, but they helped too. Besides," he continues, finally hoisting himself all the way onto the walkway and holding out a hand for Felix, "I couldn't protect you all yesterday."

Felix pauses to frown at him, trying not to get distracted by the moonlight filtering through his hair. "You can't be serious," he says.

"Huh?"

Accepting the hand offered, Felix lets himself be pulled up onto the walkway and barely notices the stairway fading away behind them. "That wasn't your fault," he insists. "You couldn't have known that it was going to happen."

"No, I know," Chan says sheepishly. "I just meant that I have no idea whether any of you are doubting me now."

Felix is already shaking his head. "Even if we did, which we don't, we're all being targeted, so you're not getting rid of us anytime soon. We have to work together."

There's a softness at the corners of Chan's eyes that gives Felix a little hope that he'll take Felix's words to heart. "Thanks, Felix."

"Anytime," he returns. They smile at each other for a moment longer, which is enough to bring back a nagging thought at the back of Felix's mind. "Can I ask you a question?"

Chan nods, tilting his head toward the west corner of the walls so that they start in that direction. Felix swallows, trying to figure out the best way to ask as they walk.

"Do you remember me?" is what eventually comes out of his mouth.

To his surprise, Chan looks at him as if he'd been expecting the question. "Actually, yes. I was trying not to get my hopes up since I didn't know you'd moved to Xafyr, but well, Felix isn't exactly a common name in these parts."

"Is that why you thought you had to change your name before you left?" Felix asks carefully.

Chan shrugs. "If you or anyone wanted to call me Chris I'd be fine with it. But I guess Chan is what I grew into, even if I didn't initially choose to."

"Makes sense," Felix muses. He moves to sit down in between two of the battlements, swinging his legs over the edge, and Chan sits next to him. In front of them, they can see some empty space on the side of the mountain before the forest starts, dark and foreboding. There are a few lingering lights in the distance, towns below them or on other hills and mountains, and for some reason, it's calming, to be watching it all at a distance with Chan next to him. It's almost like he has everything at his fingertips, able to move things around and predict their movements at will.

"Actually," Felix says. "That reminds me... Wasn't your aunt able to use magic to divine?"

"Was she?" Chan blinks and turns toward Felix, confused. "I don't think..."

But his expression changes to one of realization, and when he meets Felix's eyes, he knows they're thinking of the same memory.

* * *

_"How long is Chris staying?" Felix asks, tugging on the hem of his mother's skirt._

_"Not very long, unfortunately." Felix's mother looks toward the boy sitting at their table. "We have to find his aunt, who can take him in, but it's a few days' travel for your father."_

_As if on cue, there's a knock at their door, and his mother blinks in surprise. Felix runs ahead of her to open the door, and the woman standing outside is already kneeling to be at his height, Felix's father standing behind her._

_"Hello, Felix. Are you helping take care of Chan - er, Chris?"_

_"We are," Felix's mother says, putting her hands on Felix's shoulders, and the woman stands to face her, bowing low._

_"Thank you very much," she says. "I am Sunmi, Chris's aunt and the First of Rhulsan. I wanted to save your husband the lengthy trip, so I came myself."_

_Felix frowns. "Did we tell the lady that Chris was here?"_

_His mother squeezes his shoulder gently and draws them both aside. "Felix, let's be polite to our guests. Won't you come in?"_

_The lady steps through the door, followed by Felix's father, who looks as confused as Felix feels._

_"She met me a few towns ahead, and here we are," he says, scratching at the back of his neck._

_Felix looks at the lady again, who's spotted the other boy sitting at the table. Chris looks up, and frowns when he sees his aunt there._

_"I don't want to go," he says._

_The lady sighs and sits next to him. "I know, but I can at least take care of you. Of course, I want you to rule after me, but in the end, it's your choice, okay?"_

_Something about it feels wrong to Felix. He sits across from them and clears his throat. "Chris is a royal?"_

_"Kind of," the lady says, smiling at him. "And you might be too."_

_Felix doesn't know what to say to that, and Chris ends up leaving a short while later, an unfinished cup of tea the only reminder that they'd been there at all._

* * *

Felix has to stare into space for a moment.

"She knew," he says finally. "She knew you were going to end up ruling Rhulsan, and she knew I would end up in a position of power too."

Chan is quiet for a moment. "Maybe that's why she wanted the line to continue with me, but accepted Jisung and Changbin without protest. Now that I think about it... There were other things that she did. The times she turned down alliances, or things as tiny as making me walk on one side of her. She never told me, though..."

"Probably because you'd probably have tried to change the future if you knew," Felix reasons. "But she could also have been letting you gear up for something she saw down the line." "Like all this that's happening right now," Chan agrees. "Do you think... Do you think she'd tell us now, since it's too late to stop anything?"

Felix raises his eyebrows. "I don't know, but it's worth a shot. Does she still live in the _Hireuln_?"

"No, she moved to another part of Rhulsan."

"Damn."

Felix's thoughts are racing. How much of the future had the former First predicted? Could he really trust himself to not try and tamper with fate if he knew what was going to happen?

He's not sure he wants to know the answer to either of those questions.

It seems like Chan is having the same silent dilemma, so Felix stays quiet, letting him think in peace. His gaze wanders to the grass underneath the wall, then to the edge of the trees. He's in the middle of thinking about whether they can grow trees in Xafyr when something catches his eye.

There's a figure just behind one of the trees, almost waiting for something. It seems rather fuzzy, as if the person is trying to obscure themself from Felix's vision. But as he blinks, trying to clear his sight, they step fully out of the trees.

Whoever it is must be bold to come straight toward the entrance to the stronghold at this time of night, but they stop several feet away from the doors. There's a heavy cloak around their shoulders with the hood up, so Felix can't tell much about them.

"Chan," Felix whispers urgently.

"I see them," Chan says, his eyes fixated on the figure. "Let's wait for a moment, though."

Felix nods, and is about to swing his feet back to the safety of the ramparts when the figure turns to look at them directly.

"I must speak to the Firsts," the person says, and Felix can feel more than hear both himself and Chan gasp.

"Sunmi?"

There's a little bit of mirth in her voice as she answers. "It's me, yes. Surprised?"

"Very," Chan says, starting to stand.

"Actually," Felix says, following suit, "we have a question to ask you."

"I'm sure you do."

Felix is about to speak again, but in his distraction, he hadn't noticed other figures moving among the trees. With a yell from one of them, they rush toward Sunmi, who turns to face them, throwing her hands up protectively.

Chan is already in motion, leaping off the edge of the wall and sticking out his hands to magically cushion his fall. Felix jumps after him, the two of them rolling to soften the landing further and coming up on their feet. He lunges at the nearest one and aims his fist at their jaw, using the momentum to land his foot in the same place. One of them grabs his waist from behind, but he stomps on their foot, ramming his skull back into their face and grabbing at their fingers to pry them loose as he throws his elbow back into their neck.

More of them come at him, and he catches a glimpse of Sunmi and Chan, who seem to be holding their own for now. But there are more enemies than they'd originally thought, and Felix is slowly losing track of how many he's felled so far, how many faces and stomachs and groins his blows land on.

At some point, there's a commotion behind them, and Felix turns for a brief second to see that everyone has been moving toward Sunmi, slowly starting to overpower her. Gritting his teeth, he ignores his bruising knuckles and knees his opponent in the stomach before taking off in her direction as well.

Chan seems to have the same idea, because he twists an attacker's shoulder into a painful angle and is suddenly running alongside Felix. The two of them burrow into the mass of bodies, trying to pry them from Sunmi and fight them off at the same time. Desperation tastes salty and rich on Felix's tongue.

"Stop!" a voice calls. "Everyone stand down."

The voice is commanding enough that everyone slows, coming to a halt. And from this close, Felix can see why.

Someone has a thin knife pressed up against Sunmi's throat, using their other hand to hold her around the waist.

"We only need her," the voice says, but there's something wrong. Felix isn't sure whether the voice had just had a slight waver in it. He must be imagining things. "And if you interfere with taking her away, I'll be only too happy to slit your throat too."

Felix's hands are clammy, even in the cool air, and next to him, he senses Chan breathing hard, obviously trying to think of something, a way out, a way to save all three of them perhaps.

But what catches his attention is Sunmi's face. She looks calm, almost smug, which is an impressive feat considering the blade digging into the skin of her throat. Felix can't tell if she's making the effort not to, but her eyes don't even flick toward him or Chan at all.

"Might as well kill me," she says casually. "Might be more useful to him, no?"

"Shut up," the person says, and the brief distraction is all Chan needs.

He lunges toward Felix, tripping him so that he falls and catching him in his arms. Felix clings onto him, arms around his neck, and doesn't realize that they've taken off until he registers the wind rushing past them, both from Chan's flight and weapons that narrowly miss them. Chan continues climbing through the air until he finally touches down on the walkway behind the parapets, tightly clutching Felix to his body with his eyes shut tight.

"Chan, what... She's still..."

Chan shakes his head, eyes still shut, so Felix takes the liberty of peering over his shoulder. From what he can see, the attacker with the knife still has it pressed against Chan's aunt, and slowly takes a step back, then another as weapons and magical attacks rain down against the invisible barrier surrounding the fortress walls. His eyes follow Sunmi until she and the others disappear into the trees, lost to sight.

"What... What just happened?"

Chan takes a deep breath in, lets it out. "We had to let her go."

"Why?" Now that Felix knows they're safe, he untangles himself from Chan's arms, kneeling in front of him and gripping his shoulders. "Chan, who knows what they'll do to her?"

"I know," Chan whispers. "But it's a risk we have to take. We will go after her, I promise."

Felix moves his hands to cup Chan's face gently. He wants to be angry, but it's just breaking his heart that Chan had likely just lost the last family he had left. "How can you be so sure?" he asks softly.

Chan looks at him with glittering eyes and holds up a small, round thing that looks like a pebble. "There's a matching one sticking to Sunmi right now. With this, we'll know wherever they take her, and if they move her."

Felix must be gaping, because Chan actually cracks a smile. "What?"

"Just. How did you do that?"

"Well, actually, I kind of did it without thinking. I meant to just get you out of harm's way but it also turned out to be the perfect distraction to summon a piece of rock from the earth to stick to her and split it in two to infuse matching magic into both halves."

Felix blinks in disbelief. "Bang Chan," he says gravely, "you're an absolute madman, and an absolute genius at the same time."

Chan finally laughs, but quickly sobers. "We'll find out soon enough which one I am. For now, there's a change in plans. We have to wake the others."

* * *

If looks could kill, Minho's glare would have buried them all deep in the ground by now.

"And you decided it was a good idea to go walking by yourself?" he asks, steely calm and directed at Chan.

Chan sighs, turning his face so Seungmin can spread some salve over bruises still forming on his face. "Felix found me, so we went together. And we're safe. We're fine. I'm not saying it wasn't stupid, but I won't do it again. Promise."

"We really are fine," Felix says firmly as he sees Hyunjin about to cut in. "Besides, if we hadn't gone, we wouldn't have found out about all this. We should focus on the siege for now, and you can be mad at us for risking our lives later, okay?"

Minho just looks at them again, but lets out a breath after a moment, looking away. Felix frowns a little, because he knows that look, and he'll have to seek Minho out individually later and apologize.

"What we need to know right now is how many of them are, and what they're capable of," Changbin interjects. "Some of the army, especially ranking members, are housed here, but probably not nearly enough to launch a frontal attack against them."

Jisung nods in agreement. "The good news is that joke's on them if they planned a siege, because this entire place is self-sustaining. The problem might be if they start attacking our people instead and force us to act outside the walls."

Chan waits for Seungmin to affix a bandage over the area he'd been treating before he speaks up. "About all that. I sent a message to Bambam."

Changbin looks slightly alarmed. "Like, by sharing _grava_ or..."

"No," Chan says quickly. "Don't worry, I just sent a dog."

"A dog?" Felix asks. "I didn't know you had pets here."

Chan rubs the back of his neck. "Ah no, it's... You'll see."

The door to the room opens, and a small glowing dog fashioned out of light bounds through, rising so that it can put its front paws on Chan's chest. "Thank you," Chan says, smiling, and the dog barks once before fading away completely.

At the door, there stands a a man, clearly hastily dressed and his hair tousled from sleep. He adjusts his glasses and grins at Chan before stepping fully into the room.

"Skrrt skrrt?" he offers, doing a funny motion where he looks like he's sneezing into one elbow and sticking out the other arm. "I know this is a serious summons but why are there a bunch of attractive men in your room?"

Chan tries to fight down a smile, but he's clearly losing. "Bambam, we're under siege."

"Oh shit, really?" Bambam looks more awake now, and runs a hand through his hair. "You need me to scout? I can pull some of the guys who work under me."

"Take a few from within the walls," Jisung says. "And if you need us, Changbin or I can go out too."

"Nah, no need," Bambam assures him, waving a hand. "I got it, but hey, make sure I catch all your names later, okay? Nice to kind of meet y'all."

He turns to exit again, picking up his pace, and Felix turns to Chan, ignoring Seungmin's protests for him to keep still. "Was that gesture he did a Rhulsan greeting? I wanna try."

"Felix, no," Chan says.

"Felix, yes," Felix and Jisung respond in unison, and start laughing together.

"Felix, if you don't stop moving, I will gladly end you," Seungmin says pointedly.

"Sorry, Seungminnie," Felix apologizes, feeling a chill go up his spine. At the same time, Minho mutters, "Hot, unfortunately."

Both Felix and Seungmin's heads whip toward him at that, but he just blinks at them. "Problem?"

Seungmin tries not to blush as he rubs some salve across Felix's knuckles but stays silent.

"Ooh, Seungminnie's got a weak spot too," Hyunjin cackles.

"Would you like to join Felix underground?"

Hyunjin gulps. "No."

"That's what I thought."

Chan sighs warily. "Please don't kill each other. Anyway, until Bambam comes back, all we can do is--"

"Wait, no," Hyunjin says, his eyes lighting up. "That's it."

"What's it?"

Hyunjin gives Seungmin a beatific smile. "Underground! That's our escape route."

* * *

Felix gives up waiting after about half an hour.

Seungmin had finally left him alone with a pat to his cheek and a warning not to strain himself, and had wandered over to Jisung and Hyunjin, who had started up a conversation about desserts, for some bizarre reason. Jeongin and Minho sit against the headboard, Minho near nodding off on Jeongin's shoulder, and Chan and Changbin have gone from the room, likely to take stock of the defenses they do have at hand, just in case.

He supposes he could just join in on the conversation or curl up against Minho, but he feels restless and antsy, like something is crawling under his skin. He wants to feel helpful.

So he waits until the remaining people decide to take a nap and heads for the door, slipping outside.

Once the door is shut behind him, he realizes again that he doesn't know his way around, but he bounces a little in place and sweeps his foot against the red and gold carpet running down the length of the hall. A small golden line shoots from his foot, heading toward the left and seeking out the anchor point he'd envisioned - the entrance to the fortress.

He manages to make it through safely this way, thankfully meeting no one in the corridors, although he does hear noises from others running around a few times. When he finally sees the front room, he dispels his guiding line with a flick of his wrist and steps out into the grounds, turning right so he can hug the wall as he figures out a way up to the walls without attracting attention. Eventually, he finds a some staggered footholds like a small ladder built into the wall, and only uses a little of his _grava_ to help him to the top more easily.

As he nears the top of the wall, he's struck by how quiet it is. Sure, he's far above the ground now, but since they'd found out that there were more enemies surrounding the stronghold, they have no need to be quiet. Peeking over the edge of the parapet to make sure there's no one on this side, even guards, he lifts himself onto the walkway and creeps forward on hands and knees to peer around the battlements.

To his disappointment, he can't see much in the darkness, and he doesn't want to use much more magic in case he has to conserve it for later. As he's pondering whether he should just give up and go back to the others or sneak around the walls to see more, there are footsteps behind him, and someone crouches next to him behind the battlement.

"We can't see them either," Changbin says, voice low.

Felix jumps, but thankfully doesn't let out a scream. "Where did you come from?" he hisses.

He can just barely make out Changbin's grin. "I have my ways. Guess you can't sit still either, huh?"

Felix shrugs and rubs his knuckle against his ear sheepishly. "Guess you caught me."

To his surprise, Changbin doesn't tell him to go back inside again. Instead, he's studying Felix intently, and the intensity of his gaze surprises Felix, though it's not unwelcome. To be honest, he'd wanted to approach Changbin since they'd gotten to the _Hireuln_ , but hadn't been sure how. He certainly hadn't thought this was how their first conversation would happen.

"Something wrong?" he asks, somewhat self-conscious now.

Changbin blinks, as if he hadn't realized he'd been staring, and averts his gaze almost shyly. "No, just." He coughs lightly. "Nothing."

A slow smile spreads across Felix's face as the realization comes to him. "I'm just pretty, right?" As Changbin splutters, Felix just laughs and continues, "Cause I was thinking about how good-looking you are too."

Changbin pauses, and an unreadable expression crosses his face. "You're just being nice."

"What? No!" Felix frowns at him. "I'm serious, you have these intense eyes and a _really_ nice body but I saw you being cute with Jisung earlier and I don't know which side is more attractive - dark and strong or soft and cute."

By now, Changbin is definitely blushing. "Stop, wait, that's too much," he laughs. "Thank you, though. It really means a lot."

Felix gives him the grin he knows is a killer, wide with his eyes disappearing into crescents. "Of course, Changbinnie."

"Anyway," Changbin says, swallowing visibly and standing up. "Chan and I have been walking just fine along the walls without incident. I can't promise Chan won't be mad that you're here, but I can try and cover for you."

"Scary," Felix says, trying to think of what Chan might look like when he's mad. He stands as well, and happily sneaks an arm around Changbin's waist. "I'm sure between our cute faces, he'll have to stop being mad."

Changbin shakes his head fondly. "I hope you're right."

"Don't worry," Felix says sagely. "I'm always right."

Chan only sighs when he sees Felix and Changbin walking toward him and Bambam.

"I don't know how you got away from the others, but we need to stick together right now," he says sternly. "You were the one who told me that first."

"Sorry Chan," Felix says, feeling a little bit guilty. "I just wanted to be helpful."

Chan smiles a little at that. "Well, we've sent out a little bit of sensory magic just underground, and by our estimates, there's only about twenty units of several men around the entire perimeter. That's not nearly enough to take over entirely, so it's probably only meant to scare us."

"We got them, easy," Bambam assures them. "I can even call in troops that don't live here to surround them from the outside. What y'all need is an escape route."

"Which we have," Felix points out. "Hyunjin suggested we go underground."

Chan frowns. "But a tunnel for all of us to make it through, and long enough to be far away from enemy line of vision _and_ Bambam's people? We can't combine our magic right now or that will send up alarms to this unknown power."

"Hyunjin, Minho, and I got it," Felix says. At least this is something he's confident in. "We won't share _grava_ but just work alongside each other."

Chan lets out a breath. "Alright. But if anything goes wrong, I'm calling all of you back."

* * *

Hyunjin is opposed to the idea of all three of them doing it at first, but he finally concedes when Minho agrees to it.

"We've been living underground for half our lives," Minho reminds him. "We're probably the best bet for underground pathfinding, and Felix and I won't let you do it alone."

"Okay," Hyunjin sighs. "But if Chan still has that little tracker, he should tell us which direction to go in."

Chan fishes the small pebble out of his pocket and closes his fist around it. "Northwest," he says. "Mostly north. I'll point in the direction when we get outside."

The three of them nod, and everyone breaks into a flurry of movement as they grab their belongings from Jeongin, who had gathered them earlier, and file out the door. They're mostly silent as they make their way around the grounds to a spot on the north side, closer to the back of the stronghold. Felix can see more people at the top of the walls, and hopes they'll be safe as they defend the _Hireuln_.

The eight of them gather in a loose ring at a point a safe distance from the wall, and Minho, Hyunjin, and Felix step into the center of it.

"Ready?" Minho asks, lazy catlike grin hiding what Felix knows is genuine care and worry.

"Let's do this." Felix smiles brightly to chase away all of their worries, and starts up a rhythm with his feet.

Slowly, Hyunjin and Minho join in, careful to stagger their movements just enough that their _grava_ don't mix together. Felix doesn't need the magical connection to feel the synergy between them, something that gives him relief and spurs him forward. Vaguely in the back of his head, he thinks that he'd like to reach this level of understanding with the rest of them, and makes a silent promise to work toward it.

Below them, the ground starts to cave inward, and all of them back away as the dirt crumbles, driven by three different downward forces. Felix tries to keep his magic away from the other two as he directs his digging in the direction that Chan had pointed them in, twirling and stomping his feet and letting it flow through his hands. He can feel the active part of his _grava_ burrowing into the mountain, far enough underground not to alert anyone on the surface. It's satisfying to feel the tunnel grow.

There comes a point when he senses the last bit of barrier between the tunnel and the open air on the other side of the mountain, and he slows to a stop before he can fully break through, just in case there's something waiting on the other side. Hyunjin and Minho seem to think the same thing, as they pause in their movements as well, leaving all of them staring down at the entrance to the tunnel.

"Well," Felix pants, only now realizing how out of breath he is. "Who's first?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is Jisung's perspective, and I'm thinking there will be one more chapter after that. Still deciding on an epilogue or not. 
> 
> Stay safe, prevent the spread of COVID, support social justice, and have a wonderful holiday. Find me on twitter at @hiraethstill if you want to chat.


	8. from the ashes (neck and neck)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot believe it, but with this chapter, I've broken my previous record for longest fic, at 45K exactly. Cheers to two words, but next chapter should put it much more solidly at first place. Anyway, I hope things pick up enough in this chapter, leading to the last chapter and the climax/ending. May change the chapter count if I decide to do an epilogue.

_Roaming in circles_

_Forcefully tethered in place_

_Escape its clutches_

* * *

The sun is barely peeking out of the horizon as they make it to the other side.

Jisung isn't particularly claustrophobic, but he hadn't liked crawling forward on his hands and knees for what felt like hours with only his breathing and the crunch of the dirt underneath them as they all trudged forward to keep him company. So it's a relief when Minho lets the last bit of earth crumble before them, letting light into the tunnel as he wriggles his way out at the base of a tree trunk. Jeongin follows him, then Felix, Jisung, and the others. Chan comes out last, joining them as they all brush the dirt from their clothes and check through their packs, just in case.

"Everyone okay?" Chan asks, looking over all of them cursorily for any scrapes that might need immediate attention. Jisung makes sure to look over him as well because he always forgets to, and is relieved to see that he looks fine.

"All good over here," Minho says, and everyone nods in agreement. "We should close the tunnel off so no one else can use it."

Chan nods as well, and is about to ask Changbin to do so when Jeongin speaks up. "I can do it," he says brightly. "Minho, Hyunjin, and Felix just pushed the dirt apart, right? I'll bring it back together."

"I'll help," Jisung offers, his heart going soft when Jeongin smiles at him in thanks.

The two of them stand next to the hole, and Jisung waits for Jeongin's cue. Jeongin hums a little, then opens his mouth and starts to sing, a honey-sweet thing that almost makes Jisung forget that he'd meant to help out. Sure, he's done a little magic of the Hyoyu variety himself, having lived there for some time, but he hadn't had a chance to really appreciate the two _Huio_ in their natural element, having gone to Xafyr on his and Changbin's mission and being one of the ones incapacitated as they'd been attacked in the _Hireuln_. He shakes his head and makes a mental note to compliment him later as he focuses his mind, bringing in thoughts to help fill in the dirt along the tunnel.

The two of them dart and dance around each other carefully but manage to work their way along the entire length of it without too much trouble. Jisung opens his eyes as the last bit is filled in, the ground below them solid again.

"That was really beautiful," he says, feeling strangely invigorated instead of tired. "You gotta teach me sometime."

Jeongin laughs a little shyly and ducks his head. "Sure, later on."

The others have been staring as well, and Chan moves forward to wrap his arms tightly around Jeongin, shaking him enthusiastically. "Our Jeonginnie is so talented!" he coos.

Jeongin squawks and tries to get away from him, but Jisung knows from experience that Chan is like the most aggressively friendly leech when he wants to be. Jeongin's ears are turning a little red as he asks, "Aren't you supposed to be guiding us to the former First?"

"Right!" Chan says brightly as he lets go, which only prompts Felix to latch onto Jeongin instead, though a little less aggressively. Jeongin sighs and lets it happen; it seems even he isn't resistant to one Lee Felix.

In the meantime, Chan has brought out the pebble again, gripping it tightly. "According to this, we're heading in the right direction, and they've stopped at some point just outside Rhulsan's borders, from what I can tell. I don't know what kind of place it is, but the magic should be better able to pinpoint details the closer we get. We can use some of our _grava_ for part of the journey, but not the whole way, since I'd rather we save it for when we absolutely need it."

"If we're conserving _grava_ , then Minho, Hyunjin, Felix, Jeongin, and Jisung should take it easy for now," Changbin adds. "Which leaves Chan, Seungmin, and me to carry us all part of the way."

"Got it," Seungmin nods. "Which of us goes first?"

Chan raises two fingers, and Jisung's still in awe at how much weight the simple gesture carries, even after knowing the guy for so many years. "I will," he says. "It's going to look kind of strange, but to create a platform underneath all of us that's most effective and takes the least amount of energy, I'm going to need you all to sit or lie down in a circle around me. That way the weight will be distributed pretty evenly."

Jisung sits to one side of him, and the rest follow suit, forming a loose circle around Chan. Hyunjin happens to be sitting facing Chan's front side, so he can't resist reaching out to poke at the tops of Chan's boots until Chan smiles at him.

"Alright," Chan says, playfully nudging at Hyunjin's knee in retaliation. "Here we go."

Jisung can feel something solidifying under him and he lurches a little as he's lifted into the air along with the rest. Chan navigates them out over the mountainside, and the ground drops away below them into a shallow valley, getting farther away.  
Suddenly, Jisung feels something tugging at his stomach with an unpleasant sensation. He can handle heights when he's the one controlling himself through the air, but it's a different experience when his life is in someone else's hands, even if he knows objectively that he can catch himself if he falls and he'd trust Chan with anything. Blindly, his hands grope around, grabbing onto the nearest things he can, which happen to be Seungmin's thigh and Minho's arm. Seungmin raises an eyebrow at him, but when Jisung goes to sheepishly pull away, the other places a gentle hand on his knee, patting it a little hesitantly.

"Thanks," Jisung says, a little unsteadily. On the other side of him, Minho shifts until he's the one clutching onto Jisung's arm, and subtly shifts a little closer to him. "Not good with heights either?" he asks Minho. In response, Minho just squeezes his eyes shut and clutches on tighter.

"That makes two of us," Jisung responds softly, and puts his other hand over Seungmin's as he tries not to think about it either.

Aside from having to let go of Seungmin's hand to let him take over after Changbin, Jisung doesn't move much and the journey passes rather uneventfully. Below them, the mountains give way to foothills, and then to drier grassland. Chan signals for Seungmin to stop, and they're gently lowered to the ground. Jisung and Minho immediately flatten themselves out against the grass, even though its itchy against their faces.

"I'm never leaving the ground again," Minho declares, dead serious.

Felix giggles and lies down across both their backs. "It's okay, Minho, we'll keep you safe."

"Still no," Minho says firmly, even when Felix pokes his cheek and pouts at him.

"Do you both need a break?" Chan asks, concern creeping into his voice.

Jisung shakes his head. He doesn't want to delay them, even if it's fun to be dramatic, so he sits up after gently moving Felix and brushes the grass off his clothes and pack. "Not me. We should keep going."

Minho and Felix stand as well. "Yeah, we should," Minho agrees. "How much longer?"

"About a couple hours on foot," Chan says. "I don't want to rush anyone, but we're sitting ducks out here with no cover."

Jisung looks around properly and realizes he's right. There's a few trees he can see in the direction they're going in, but they're a long ways off, merely specks against the horizon. He grabs onto Changbin's hand and hoists his bag higher on his shoulder. "Let's go then."

They set off in loose groups, Hyunjin joining Changbin and Jisung at the front. Jisung has to give his best pleading look for Hyunjin to allow him to hold his hand, but once he does, Hyunjin absentmindedly swings their hands between them, and Changbin starts to as well, until both Jisung's hands are swinging. Jisung smiles contentedly and helps.

They eventually reach the smattering of trees, and can see more as the ground starts to slope upward. Leaves and twigs start to crunch under their feet as they reach the summit of a low hill, and Jisung whistles as they see what's on the other side.

The land slopes downward at a steeper angle into a valley with less trees, and in the center, there's a vast lake. Across the surface, there are small islands spanning only several feet across scattered around, as well as bubbles that gently move across the water. There are people too, walking after or into bubbles, or stopping to sit on the islands.

"This is it," Chan confirms. "She's here somewhere."

Seungmin frowns. "We can't go in all at once. We don't know if the person who's corrupted our bonds can see through us, or through any of those people."

"So we split up," Minho says. We can circle around in groups or pairs to different sides."

"I call Seungmin!" Jisung shouts happily, making his way over and slinging an arm around his shoulders. Seungmin gives him a confused look but allows him to hang there, giving no protest.

"Alright," Chan relents. "But please watch each other's backs. Changbin, go with Minho and Felix toward the right. I'll go with Hyunjin and Jeongin in the other direction, and you two can stay here. You can go first, and as the rest of us get to different points far enough along the shore, go ahead whenever you get there."

Jisung gives him a little fancy twirling salute, and the groups split off. After they've disappeared from sight, Jisung turns his face toward Seungmin, smiling. "Lucky us, we get some alone time," he says, wiggling his eyebrows a little.

Seungmin looks unimpressed. "You're not going to distract us from our actual job."

"No, of course not," Jisung grins. "There just always happens to be enough time for a little gay."

As hard as Seungmin tries to fight it, an amused smile tugs at his lips. "Prove yourself useful and then we'll see," he says, starting forward so that Jisung's arm slips from his shoulders and he has to jog to catch up.

"Hey, not fair!" Jisung complains. "You've got those stupidly attractive long legs."

"Not my fault," Seungmin shrugs. They near the edge of the water, and he doesn't give it a second thought, humming and stepping out onto the fairly clear surface. "Coming?" Despite his previous words, he looks back at Jisung, who focuses for a moment so he can step out onto the water with him.

There's definitely a change on the water in comparison to the land surrounding it. Jisung feels unsettled, like there's something crawling underneath his skin. He steps closer to Seungmin, but doesn't touch him, since they're both using magic right now. From what Changbin had told him earlier, physical touch did something to strengthen their bonds, and even if they're not sharing _grava_ right now, Jisung doesn't want to take any chances.

He scans the nearest people, trying to look for Sunmi's face. It concerns him that they all seem to be on the younger side, and none of them seem to even notice his and Seungmin's presence. It's either that or they refuse to look in their direction, let alone meet their eyes. Jisung feels it again, the creeping sensation along his skin. He doesn't like this place.

"There has to be a better way than just blindly wandering around," Seungmin mutters. "Chan said she was able to see the future - do you think she'd seek us out herself?"

"Doubtful. She hasn't given us hints or anything in the past. But she probably knows we know she has that ability, at least."

Seungmin sighs. "Alright, let's make a sweep around the outside, and then work our way inward."

They start to their right, trying to be casual and not attract attention as they scan more faces. Jisung idly wonders whether he should recognize any of them, since there seem to be a lot of people around their age, with styles of clothing from all three lands and some he doesn't recognize. Even though the sun is shining above them, climbing in the cloudless sky, there's an almost oppressive gloom hanging over them, pulling them downward.

It's only a matter of time before Jisung takes a step without putting magical thought behind it, and his foot sinks into the water. Of course, that causes him to trip and he falls into the lake with a splash.

Everything is a flurry of motion until a thought overtakes his mind, just _breathe_. He latches onto it, and repeats it over and over in his head, the will of his thoughts strong enough to push the water around him away from himself until he forms a little air bubble. The air helps calm him down immensely, and he's about to go back to the surface when something appears in the murkiness in front of the bubble.

At first, it just seems like a lighter smudge, but as it draws closer, Jisung can actually see the outline - of a person, flowing purple garments and dark hair billowing around them.

Sunmi holds a tiny light at the tip of her finger, just enough to see her by, and Jisung instinctively reaches forward, trying to say her name, but something else breaks through the bubble, crashing into him along with a wave of the water he'd been trying to keep out. A pair of arms wrap around his waist and yank him upward until they're breaking the surface of the water.

"Are you okay? What the hell was that?"

Seungmin is still holding him close around the waist, and they float in the water up to their waists. Jisung is dazed from the sudden light and the slight breeze slicing through his wet clothes and pack, but his body reacts on instinct, turning away from Seungmin's face and coughing just in case there's any remaining water in his lungs.

"We need to get you dry," Seungmin says, his brow furrowing in worry.

"No wait," Jisung says slowly, his mind sharpening into focus as he straightens his posture in Seungmin's arms. "There was... In the lake. She was there."

Seungmin blanches. "You mean Sunmi?"

Jisung nods. "I was about to talk to her when you came. We have to get back down there."

"No," Seungmin says firmly. "First, we're going to get you dry, then we're going to find the others so we can all go together."

As he speaks, he treads his legs lightly so that they're pushed with the water toward one of the little islands. He sets Jisung down before climbing up next to him, his hands fluttering a little. "Let's not make a habit of me cleaning up after all of your messes," he scolds, but Jisung can hear the catch to his voice. After a moment, he starts to hum gently, his hands hovering just shy of Jisung's skin as they move across his body. Jisung can feel something warm spread across him as his clothes and bag dry, and finally his skin.

He's is a little frustrated that he'd lost Sunmi, but Seungmin is right. They need to find the others, and Seungmin is shivering a little even as he makes sure Jisung is completely dry.

"You're still wet," he says, taking Seungmin's wrists gently in his own. "Here, let me."

He blinks a few times to concentrate, and settles his thoughts so that warmth spreads from his fingers and the water slides off of Seungmin's body. Only when he's completely sure that it's all gone does he look up at Seungmin's face.

"Thank you," he says. "You're right - if you hadn't come after me, I'd have gone after her myself. Sorry."

Seungmin just nods. "I kind of panicked when you went under. If I'd been late..."

Jisung shakes his head. "Nope. There's a million what-ifs, and they sneak up on you, but you saved me and that's what matters."

"Right." Seungmin takes a deep breath. "We will go back, okay? We just have to find everyone else."

"What happened here?"

Both of them look up at the voice, to find Chan, Hyunjin, and Jeongin looking down at them. "Did either of you get hurt?" Chan asks urgently. He steps onto the island and crouches before them, touching Jisung's cheeks and arms and then turning equal attention to Seungmin. Seungmin seems almost surprised at it, and Jisung smiles reflexively. He'll get used to Chan's protective tendencies soon enough.

"No, we're fine," Jisung says, and Chan looks over at him, still holding Seungmin's hands. "But I saw her."

"Sunmi?" Hyunjin asks, and Jisung nods.

"The thing is, she was underwater. But she came up to me when I fell in, so maybe she's waiting for us?"

Chan frowns. "Sorry, you fell _in?_ "

"I saved him," Seungmin says quickly, rubbing his thumbs against the backs of Chan's hands. "Kind of. He'd already figured out how to make an air bubble."

Chan only seems slightly mollified, but he sighs and finally lets his hands drop from Seungmin's grasp. "I guess we have to go in together, then."

"I want to create the bubble," Hyunjin says, almost excitedly, and Jisung has to grin.

"Alright, but we're already a big group," Chan says worriedly. "I don't know if these people walking around us will start noticing."

Jeongin shakes his head. "We tried to talk to one of them, remember? They kind of looked scared, then looked away and went back to ignoring us."

"It's our best bet," Jisung agrees. "Jeongin, can you send a message to the others?"

Nodding, Jeongin hums softly to himself and a small bird appears next to his head, flitting to the other side. It bobs in place once, twice, then speeds off. As it does, Jeongin and Hyunjin step onto the island as well, remaining standing so they can all fit.

After a few minutes, Jisung can see the remaining three making their way through the other people walking about. The little bird disappears as they draw close, and Jisung smiles at Felix, who reaches them first.

"We assumed there wasn't anything urgent, but what's going on?" He looks worried for a moment, but tries to smile back.

Jisung looks at all of them, and a part of him is extremely grateful that these are the people he's tied to, and the other part is a little sorry that they'd been dragged into all of this.

"We're going to have to try finding Sunmi at the bottom of the lake."

* * *

Hyunjin gets to make the bubble for them, as promised. He's probably too excited about it, but he guides them out onto the surface of the water again, and as he sweeps his leg out to twirl around himself, the section of lake they're standing on sinks lower, walls of water rising around them. Jisung looks up as the last bit of sky is swallowed up by the completion of their bubble.

Changbin lets a little bit of light shine at the tips of his fingers, just enough to see immediately around them. Jisung's disappointed at first to see that there's nothing around them, but then there's the smudge of lighter water in front of him and he points.

"This way!"

The smudge turns into a longer line, leading down into the depths, and Hyunjin guides them along it with his fingers dancing against the walls of the bubble. He seems to also be doing magic to see better in the water, so it's not too much of a problem for him to touch down gently on the bottom of the lake, the water now mostly dark around them.

There are plants and debris scattered around, as well as fish that generally avoid them, but the thing that catches Jisung's eye is the light up ahead, coming from a similar bubble. Instead of their eight, this one only holds three figures, and Jisung only recognizes the figure of Sunmi. But next to him, Hyunjin gasps.

"But that's... how the hell did they..."

"You know them?" Chan asks, raising an eyebrow.

Hyunjin nods. "They were the prisoners we took, the ones that attacked Minho against their will."

"Against their will or not, is this a trap?" Seungmin asks warily, his hand already straying in search of a weapon.

"I don't think so." Minho reaches out to stop him. "Yes, we should be careful, but the prisoner named Byeongkwan cooperated with Hyunjin, and I assume we can trust Sunmi."

Chan nods slowly. "Hyunjin, merge this bubble with theirs."

Hyunjin does so, creating an opening where their air bubbles intersect to let all of them through before he closes it behind them. Jisung watches as the two unfamiliar people, who'd been sitting with their shoulders pressed together, stand slowly. Neither of them make a move forward, instead looking at Sunmi uncertainly.

"Chan," Sunmi says, stepping forward. "We have to act quickly. None of us are safe here, not unless we sever what has tainted the threads.

Chan frowns a little. "Then you knew about them? I know I never asked you about the threads, but why didn't you tell me they'd be important? Or any of what's going on?"

She smiles a little sadly. "Because I knew you'd try to take matters into your hands alone if you knew about them." Glancing at the others, she adds, "This can only work out in our favor if you allow the rest of these lovely young people to help you."

Jisung knows Chan hates putting any burden on others, and she's right. If this hadn't involved all of them, Chan would have tried to do everything himself. He reaches out to gently squeeze Chan's shoulder.

"For now, it seems like we don't have time, okay? Let's hear her out and do whatever it is quickly." He tries to keep his voice steady but firm, and Chan doesn't say anything, which means he doesn't like it, but he'll comply.

Sunmi looks at Jisung gratefully, then turns to the two people who had already been in the bubble with her. "As Hyunjin, Minho, and Felix know, these two are Byeongkwan and Sehyoon. They're some of the few that can actually tell whether he's watching through their eyes, and they might have an answer to the problem of getting rid of his influence."

Byeongkwan and Sehyoon look at each other for a moment, having a silent conversation before Sehyoon steps forward.

"We saw his face, which meant that we were housed in his headquarters of sorts, a base much farther north where there's mostly tundra. He forced us to share _grava_ with him and that's when we started feeling the... _watching_ , I guess. There were other prisoners too, but he saw us to be useful, and after some event, decided he needed to take out the rulers of three lands south of us even though at the time, none of you were ruling yet. I guess he thought he'd nip it in the bud before you could realize anything was happening. We knew he already had someone of influence in Xafyr, and was planning to take over all three lands, but since a part of the plan had failed, he had planned to have us take one of the _Rauldiya_ hostage."

"So that's why you attacked me," Minho says, more curious than anything.

Sehyoon nods, guilt creeping into his voice. "It's not just us. All the people above are prisoners too, unable to leave the lake, and he has so many places to the same effect. He must have collected enough for an army worthy of taking down all of you combined by now. His magic feeds on the connections people have already made, and just exploit it like a parasite."

Something clicks in Jisung's mind, "So you're saying that if we separate the part that stems from him with the pure thread itself, we can deprive it of its source of fuel."

Byeongkwan blinks. "Actually, we hadn't thought of it that way. But if you think it'll work..."

Sunmi clears her throat. "I highly suggest you try it."

"We could be a trial run," Sehyoon offers. "It's not our _grava_ he controls, just the connection between us, so you wouldn't be hurting us individually if something goes wrong."

For once, Chan looks at a loss for what to do. "I don't want to..."

"I'll do it," Jisung says.

"Jisung, no," Changbin frowns. "We don't know anything for sure. Who knows what would happen to you?"

"Who knows what could happen to everyone else?" Jisung shoots back. "Everyone up there, or in the other places where people are prisoners? We're talking about thousands of people, maybe millions, that could be affected if we don't figure out how to get rid of this guy. Not to mention the safety of our own lands. Sehyoon said he'd planned to take over all of us, and I dunno about you, but I don't want to give up our people to someone like that. If we don't try at all, we're guaranteed failure."

There's an impasse. The three of them stare at each other, and Jisung refuses to back down, even with the flash of guilt in Changbin's eyes.

"Sorry," Changbin finally says. "You're right. I'm just worried."

"I know," Jisung says thickly. "I didn't mean to go off like that."

"At any rate, Jisung's right." Chan sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "But the rest of us aside from Hyunjin will help, since we're on the topic of supporting each other. And if I feel like it's going too far, I will pull you out."

It's a fair enough deal, so Jisung nods and turns to Byeongkwan and Sehyoon. "Are you ready?" As they nod, Jisung continues, "Of course, you know you're going to have to give me access to the connection between you, and there might be some trial and error as I figure out how exactly to pry it apart. There might be resistance on the other side, too."

"We're ready," Byeongkwan says insistently, his hand snaking its way around Sehyoon's waist.

"Chan?"

Chan puts his hand on Jisung's shoulder, and the rest of them crowd in around him as well, just in case. Jisung takes a deep breath and connects with Chan's _grava_ for the first time in a while, just enough to tap into his sight.

As he opens his eyes again, the golden threads spring to life. His vision feels a little off-kilter since Chan's eyes are facing the opposite direction as his, but he quickly adjusts so that his vision faces Byeongkwan and Sehyoon. The thread between them is bright, nearly as thick as the one between himself and Chan. He reaches out with his _grava_ , silently asking permission to connect with it, and the barrier gives way.

Immediately, he can feel and see the silver parts almost rearing their heads in retaliation. There's a lot more than he'd thought, and a lot more than in their own connections, likely because they'd been festering for much longer. He falters, but focuses on the point where Chan has gripped his shoulder, and where Minho is squeezing his fingers gently around his other shoulder. Gritting his teeth, he fashions his own _grava_ into something like a knife. This way, he can visualize wedging it in between the purer bits of connection and the parasite.

It almost seems to work, too, until the silver grows. It wraps itself around the bit of Jisung's magic trying to pry it from the rest and twines like ivy back toward the gold.

"You might have to isolate it completely," Jeongin suggests close to his ear, and Jisung murmurs his thanks.

He tries the new tactic instead, splitting his magic so that he can wrap his way around the entire offending section of silver and fling it to the side, severed completely from the rest of the thread. The silver writhes and wriggles, but without its source or the main body of magic to sustain it, it can't move or do anything on its own and eventually goes still.

Before anyone can say anything, Jisung's immediately onto the other ones, scooping out each and every bit of silver along the thread. It's tedious and long and he gets the feeling that if his concentration broke along the way, the silver would take advantage of it and wrest back control. But he has to do it and quickly, or he'll probably deplete his and Chan's _grava_. He crawls his way magically along the thread until it's purged of silver, and combs back through to make sure he hasn't missed anything.

Finally, he lets go.

Thankfully, there's a substantial amount of _grava_ left in him to sustain him for a while, but he stumbles a little to the side, and Felix catches him.

"Great job, Jisungie," he says, smiling brightly at Jisung. It almost gives him back all the energy he'd expended.

"Love you too," Jisung mumbles, his head a little fuzzy. "Did it work?"

"Yeah, actually," Byeongkwan says, awe in his voice. "But you should do the same to all of your connections, before he thinks to take them over as well."

"In the meantime," Sehyoon offers, "we can go to the surface and start trying to gather the people there, or at least the best we can given that we can't see the threads. They're all most likely to have threads with at least one other person there, because the active connections are what feed his power."

Chan nods and ducks his head a little in a bow. "Thank you. We'll be there as soon as possible."

With a smile, the two of them jump upward and get sucked through the top of the bubble, shooting toward the surface.

Sunmi turns to them. "You don't have much time before--"

Jisung can already feel it, a sharp yanking along all the threads connected to his body, big and small. He panics and feeds his _grava_ into the nearest connection that isn't his, which happens to be Hyunjin and Jeongin's, and frantically works through the silver, trying not to miss anything. He can feel someone else working through his connection to Changbin in response - Minho, he thinks, but he can't be sure because he's finishing with this thread and moving to the next one as quickly as possible.

As all of them work through each thread, struggling against the outside force, the hold on their bonds loosens until they're sawing through the last few remaining bits feverishly. Jisung can feel the moment where they become completely free, the whiplash of relief knocking him to the ground. The rest of them follow suit, crumpling to the ground in varying states of drained energy, but they're not done yet.

"We might all be free, but the people above aren't," Sunmi warns. "And I can't hold this bubble for too much longer."

Nodding tiredly, Jisung allows Jeongin to pull him to his feet, and all of them grab onto someone to make the journey to the surface, using as little magic as possible to propel them. As they break into fresh air, there's chaos around them as Byeongkwan and Sehyoon try to corral everyone else into a group and some of them that have crumpled onto the islands. Jisung follows Chan as he heads straight for the head of the group.

"Everyone!" he yells, and his voice is amplified so that it echoes across the entire lake. A hush falls over the crowd, everyone looking toward him. "We need your cooperation if we're going to beat this and free every person here." When no one challenges him, Jisung looks around, and he can see the fear in their eyes, right next to the hope that someone might have answers for once.

"I'm going to attempt to share what I see with you all, and the rest of these people can show you how to extract the parts that aren't in your control at the moment. Please be open to me sharing with you for right now."

He must be starting to run low on magic, but Jisung admires that he squares his shoulders and closes his eyes to concentrate again, putting himself at such risk by reaching out to people with tainted connections right after being freed himself. Jisung lets the small bit of Chan's sight sent his way to seep into his vision, and immediately gets to work, he and the others branching out to help the closest threads to them, then telling those people to find others to help. Soon, they have a steady rhythm going, even coaxing those who have collapsed into cooperating.

Jisung finally runs out of threads to fix, and looks up to look at the entire lake. In front of him spreads only gold as far as he can see, and it feels like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders. He only gets to enjoy the sight for a moment, however, since his visions shifts, the threads fading from it. That must mean that Chan has gotten word that all of the people here are free, or that his _grava_ has given out.

Scanning the crowd, Jisung spots Chan kneeling on an island, Hyunjin supporting most of his weight. He rushes over, crouching down and patting Chan's head where it rests against Hyunjin's shoulder.

"Doing okay?"

Chan nods tiredly. "Didn't quite take me out, but came pretty close. I'm kinda hungry though."

Minho crouches next to Jisung and fishes around in his bag for something, bringing out a smaller bag of dried fruit. "Have this for now, and then we'll try to stop for better food on our way out of here."

"About that," Jeongin says from Jisung's other side, "what about the rest of these people? We can't just turn them loose, right?"

"We could," Jisung muses, "or we could have them all in one place in case we need them to help again. We're closer to Xafyr than Rhulsan now, right? Can we let them stay there temporarily?" He turns to look at Hyunjin and Minho for confirmation.

"Only if they want to," Hyunjin says. "Some of them seem to be from Xafyr, at least."

"Rest first," Minho says firmly, feeding Chan another piece of fruit. "We're all running low on energy and magic, and we're not going to be useful to anyone if we rush into something haphazardly."

They're all too tired to argue, so they make their sluggish way to the grass on the shore, a safe distance from the water. The people who had been prisoners seem to be thinking the same thing, grouping up along the shoreline. The sun is dipping low in the sky anyway, and Jisung can feel the excitement fading, replaced by a bone-deep sort of tired that prompts him to curl up between Felix and Jeongin without much thought.

Tomorrow, they'll trace their way back to Xafyr. They'll figure out where the other prisoners are, maybe send teams to free them as well. But for now, all there is to do is sleep and restore their energy before they can see this through to the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still trying to decide whether next chapter should be in Chan's POV only or switch between them... Leaning toward the latter though because I thrive off characterization. Also hope it lives up to the hype. 
> 
> Stay safe, prevent the spread of COVID, support social justice. And Merry Christmas to those who celebrate and happy Thursday and Friday to those who don't. Find me on twitter at @hiraethstill.


	9. from the ashes (finish line)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been. Such a wild ride. But I'm _done. _I absolutely cannot believe it. This has been a dream about nine years in the making.__
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> _Special thanks to Amanda, Kennie, Ade, and the rest of Chan's Kitchen who supported this every step of the way._  
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> **GLOSSARY**  
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> _urumi - an actual weapon in our world that originates from the Indian state of Kerala. it has a simple wooden handle and long, flexible whiplike blades that stem from them, sometimes multiple to a single handle_  
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> _Note: The other weapons in this chapter are also based on actual weapons from multiple cultures, but the urumi was the only one I specifically named._  
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_Edge of precipice_

_Burden of eight borne by one_

_Golden threads shine bright_

* * *

Their unanimous decision is that they should go to Xafyr for the time being, especially since several of the freed prisoners had expressed intent to follow them and help as needed.

Seungmin can't stop thinking about the other places where prisoners might be as they make the journey. As they make their way past drier grassland and into the more arid climate of Xafyr, he finds himself involuntarily scanning the ground for anything out of the ordinary, feeling more anxious when he doesn't find anything.

He still has a bad feeling about it even before they touch down near the capital city. Sure, their bonds are freed and they don't have to worry about being taken over again unless they share _grava_ with someone who's still tainted. Yes, Chan had promised that they would find other prisoners as they went along. But there's also something else he can't put his finger on, something they're all missing.

The first indicator is the quiet. From what Seungmin has heard and read about Xafyr, he'd thought it would be lively in the _Ur Lyxau_ , but there's no one there, not a single soul above ground. The canyon is near silent, an impressive feat considering that their footsteps echo against the walls. There are tiers of caves as well, likely shops and homes, but Seungmin can't see anyone else except for the eight of them and the freed prisoners trooping behind them.

"What the hell..." Hyunjin comes to a stop and stomps his foot on the ground, and Seungmin can feel something like a ripple underneath him. "They're all underground," Hyunjin says, confused.

"Like they're hiding?" Seungmin asks.

"Maybe." Hyunjin reaches out and grips Seungmin's arm, maybe trying to ground himself. "If they are, they should be safe there for now. We should check the _Uralx_ instead for any surprises or unwanted guests."

Seungmin lets Hyunjin sling an arm around his shoulders as they walk through the canyon, the mesa up ahead looming tall, silent, and foreboding. They leave behind the majority of the group, only the rulers circling around to the stairs on one side. The eight of them make the trek to the top silently, and without magic so as not to send up any alerts. As they near the top of the stairs, Hyunjin's hand slips from around Seungmin's shoulders down to his hand, and he squeezes their fingers together before letting go and stepping forward, joined by Felix and Minho.

The three of them go through the entrance and into the darker interior, and Seungmin follows with the others, absolutely sure that everyone else feels some of the heavy oppression in the air.

There's almost nothing inside the _Uralx_ as well.

Seungmin remembers that Jisung had said something about there being a market inside when he'd visited, but there's not a single table or item or anything in the vast space, just vague semi-darkness. Seungmin gets the feeling that this place is usually full and busy and alive, but now it's just empty and desolate, almost creepy.

There is one spot near the center, however, that's illuminated by a thin shaft of light from somewhere in the folds of the fabric roof. In the center of it sits a singular man, holding something in his lap. Seungmin doesn't know who it is, but the three _Rauldiya_ clearly do.

"Taecyeon?" Minho asks incredulously.

As they draw closer, the man watches them warily, his head slightly lowered. But he stands to meet them anyway, holding out the slim black box in his hands. There's a bruise forming just under his eye, and guilt written across his features.

"He left you a message," Taecyeon says, voice gravelly with despair.

* * *

Hyunjin is about to step forward, but Minho doesn't let him, holding out an arm as a barrier.

"You were the connection between us and him?" Minho asks, voice steely calm. Hyunjin feels a chill travel down his spine.

Taecyeon nods solemnly. "He sent me to you first, and also made me free the prisoners when you left. I didn't want to, I swear, I was--"

"Blackmailed," Hyunjin supplies. There's no point in hiding anything when this outside power knows they're onto him. "We know. But you can help us now."

"How?" Taecyeon frowns. "He knows everything, and I'm only still alive to deliver this message." He holds up the box, but Minho glances toward Felix, then Hyunjin.

"We can help you," Felix offers. "We figured out how to sever the ties."

"Really? You'd do that for--"

He seizes once, and Hyunjin deliberates for a split-second even as he realizes what's happening. This man had welcomed them into their roles as _Rauldiya_ , been a trusted advisor even beyond their rule. Hell, they'd left the entirety of Xafyr in his hands while they'd been away. But he'd kept things from them, lied to them, and even if Hyunjin knows it isn't technically his fault, he stands there for a moment.

However, there's a reason they're different.

Shaking his head to clear it, Hyunjin lunges forward, calling out for Chan behind him. Chan and the other two Firsts follow on instinct, working together to fix the thread. It's easier and takes less energy for Chan to share with less people, so Hyunjin doesn't step in, instead watching as Taecyeon slowly stills to a stop. He can imagine it, anyway, the threads slowly but surely being purged of silver sludge.

As Chan, Changbin, and Jisung retreat, Hyunjin does as well, and feels Changbin's hand splayed against the small of his back. He doesn't say anything, but Hyunjin is glad for the small comfort as Taecyeon opens his eyes, nonplussed.

"You removed it," he says, mouth hanging open.

"We did," Minho says, "and now we need that box."

Taecyeon had almost dropped the box, but his fingers are still clutching it by the edge. He rights his grip and holds it out to Hyunjin, who takes it as Minho and Felix crowd in around him and Changbin. There's no time to hold grudges now.

Hyunjin opens it slowly in case it's a trap, but when nothing shoots out, removes the lid the rest of the way. Inside, there's more black, a cushion of silk protecting the small tokens on top of it. The first one has a single line across the face, the next one has another line, and the third a third line. The designs build on each other in other ways as well, swirls and patterns strikingly distinct. There are other tokens, and Hyunjin stares, counting to make doubly sure.

"What are they?" Changbin asks, his thumb rubbing against Hyunjin's spine reassuringly, and Hyunjin blinks. The three of them that are _Rauldiya_ might know what they are, but no one else does.

Hyunjin swallows and looks toward Minho and Felix, who look back at him with stricken expressions. None of the three of them had ever thought that they'd have to deal with this during their reign, but the message is there, plain and simple.

"These are the tokens that they use in the _Yeonsyn_ , the tournament to determine the _Rauldiya_ for the upcoming year," he says slowly. "But in this context, they mean war."

* * *

Taecyeon tells them that the man who had come to leave the box had never mentioned his name, leaving them all frustrated. Changbin, in particular, would like to put a name to a face before he punches the guy with his own fist.

He'd barely restrained himself from doing something, anything, to Taecyeon for allowing all of this to start by sharing _grava_ with Minho. But it's not his fault, and Changbin had contented himself with putting his hand on Hyunjin's back instead, partly to ground himself. It won't help matters if he loses his cool, anyway.

Naturally, they'd turned to Chan for where to go next, but Changbin knows he doesn't have all the answers. Still, he squares his shoulders as he always does and starts the conversation about how to prepare for war.

"Okay," Chan says, running a hand down his face. Changbin wonders how much he'd actually slept the night before. "You said that we have three days?"

Taecyeon nods. "He mentioned sunrise specifically, at the southern edge of Xafyr."

"Alright. That obviously doesn't give us much time. What we need to do first is to gather our own troops, from all of our lands. How long do we think we'll need to make it to Rhulsan and Hyoyu, gather all possible troops, and come back?"

"A day and a half for us, probably," Jeongin supplies. "Maybe two."

Changbin nods in agreement. "Sounds reasonable." He thinks of Bambam and the other members of the army, and his heart twinges a little, thinking about them in real combat.

"Great. We'll meet back here and migrate with all resources on hand down to the southern border on the third day."

He dismisses everyone into groups, and Jisung and Changbin join him.

"You alright?" Changbin asks immediately, reaching out gently with his _grava_. Chan doesn't say anything in response, but he lets Changbin in, and Changbin can feel the nervous energy humming just underneath his mostly calm facade.

"We're right here." Changbin reaches out to lace his fingers with Chan's. Chan nods at him gratefully and allows Jisung to take his other hand.

"We're leading them into war," he says after a moment.

There's a lot of things behind the statement. That he's not sure if he can lead them. That he'll blame himself if any of them are hurt. That there's too much unknown, and not enough answers. Changbin feels it wash over him too, but at least he's detached from it, since he's not the one drowning in Chan's overthinking.

He reaches out to Jisung as well, completing the little circle. They can all use whatever strength they can get right now, and all together, something feels a little more complete.

"They know what they're getting into," Jisung reasons, trying for a smile. He squeezes both of their hands, and Changbin wonders when the youngest of them had become such a pillar of strength in their lives. He wants to do the same, be the same for them. "And something tells me they won't back out."

Changbin wants to believe the same thing, but there's an unshakable feeling of trepidation doing a slow turn in the pit of his stomach. There's so many people's lives and safety at stake, and even though Changbin trusts them, there's too many unknowns. Jisung had sounded confident about it, though, and Changbin chooses to latch onto that instead of all his worries about the future and what-ifs.

Changbin believes him. He has to.

* * *

It's strange, for some reason, to see Hyoyu again.

Jeongin barely remembers getting there, or calling Jamie to help them sort out the land-flexible units of the _Eyrevi_ , but he does remember standing in front of the sea of expectant faces, all of them looking to him for guidance.

He looks toward Seungmin, and some of the higher ranking officers, and Jamie, but they all look toward him, Seungmin smiling a bit. So he turns to the assembly at large, all of these soldiers and royal marines, and gives it his best.

If Jeongin had done this even a week ago, he'd have buckled at the knees and stumbled over his words. He'd have realized how much he hadn't known about being _Huio_ going in, and how much he had to learn, his knowledge minuscule in comparison to any of the people standing in front of him. But Hyoyu is in danger, and if he doesn't step up to the plate, then no one will, or Seungmin would have to do it alone. He's been given this great and perhaps terrible responsibility, and now he has to live up to it.

He doesn't mince words, tells them about the threads and the outside power threatening Hyoyu. From what he's learned in his short time as _Huio_ , the _Eyrevi_ and their amphibious units are well-rounded, well-trained and loyal, almost to a fault. Seungmin steps in at one point, warning everyone to conserve as much magical energy as possible, and to not share with anyone. He tells them that the entire force is moving toward the borders of Xafyr in a few hours.

Jamie approaches them as they dismiss everyone to prepare.

"They grow up so fast," she says, pretending to wipe away a tear.

Jeongin just laughs. "Are you coming with us?"

"You kidding? What kind of war could y'all have without me?"

She says it lightly, but there's worry in her eyes, and Jeongin doesn't want her to get hurt either, even though he knows she's more than capable of taking care of herself. Still, the weight on him feels a little easier to bear, knowing that she'll be out there on the battleground with them.

"Wait," Seungmin says. "What about the prisoners we took?"

"Right, we can free them," Jeongin realizes. "We should do that before we leave."

Jamie frowns. "And what, just turn them loose?"

"If there are some that want to join the _Eyrevi_ , they're welcome to," Jeongin shrugs. "They might appreciate the new job opportunity."

She still looks skeptical, but agrees to go down with them to the underground holding cells. When Jeongin tells the people there that there's a way to get rid of their ties to the mysterious man, they're skeptical at first, but one woman steps forward.

"I'll do it," she says, tossing long blonde hair over her shoulder. "I'll prove myself able to fight for you too, if your word is good."

"Siyeon," another woman hisses, grabbing the first woman's arm. "What if you get hurt?"

Siyeon directs her dark eyes to the other. "Bora, I'm not going to just sit down here and be useless anymore."

Bora lets go of her arm, and Siyeon smiles at her before turning back to Jeongin. "Go ahead, then."

"Actually," Seungmin says. "If the both of you are close, then it would be more effective to use your connection and expand from there. With both of your permission, of course."

Siyeon's eyes harden. "Why isn't one enough?"

"Actually," Bora says, stepping forward and lacing her fingers with Siyeon's, "that's fine. More of a chance to stop this if something goes wrong."

Siyeon stares at her for a moment, but her shoulders slump. "Fine. _We'll_ do it."

Jeongin smiles in what he hopes is a reassuring way. "Thank you. And once you've seen the process, you'll be able to do the same for others if you borrow Bang Chan's sight."

As Jeongin reaches out for a sliver of Chan's _grava_ , he feels a little guilty, but it's only for a couple minutes as they make quick work of the bond between Siyeon and Bora. The rest of the prisoners surge forward as well, and between Jeongin, Seungmin, and Jamie, they're able to free everyone else as well in a short amount of time.

"So," Siyeon says as they all make their way back into the city proper, a note of uncertainty creeping into her voice. "We can really join your ranks?"

Jeongin and Seungmin share a look, and nod at her.

"We're going to need all the help we can get."

* * *

There's something under Felix's skin as he stands just behind the front lines, a sort of nervous energy he can't shake. He supposes he has every right to be nervous, literally helping lead three lands into war against a growing empire, but he wishes he could be as collected as Seungmin, for example, who stands almost tranquil next to him, his robes billowing a little in the breeze.

"How can you be so... calm?" Felix asks, glancing out over the still-dark plains. No sign of anything yet, but there's still time before dawn.

Seungmin shrugs. "I'm not."

It's a simple and not very reassuring answer, but it's also somehow what Felix needs to hear. None of them know what's going to happen. None of them know how long they'll be here, how long they'll fight or even be alive. But if all the citizens who can't fight are to be protected, if the integrity of their lands is to stay intact, there's no time to get caught up in the fear and let it overwhelm him. He can put that fear to better use.

"Thanks, Seungminnie."

Seungmin smiles, his eyes softening a little at the corners. "For what it's worth, you're part of the reason I'm going through with this."

There's a lump in Felix's throat, and he can't stop himself from waddling forward to bury his face in Seungmin's neck. "You mean a lot to me too. All of you."

Seungmin rubs Felix's back for a moment before letting go. "Don't tell Changbin I said that, or he'll be on my case about giving him good luck hugs."

"What was that, Seungminnie?" Changbin calls from the other side of Seungmin, and Felix giggles as Changbin latches onto him from behind.

"Guys," Hyunjin warns, his eyes trained far ahead of them. "They're here."

A somber silence settles over them, even the sky seeming to get darker instead of heralding the return of the sun. Changbin lets go of Seungmin, and Felix turns his gaze in the same direction as Hyunjin, a knot of dread hardening in his gut.

Across the plains, there has appeared a darker line that seems to be moving. After a couple of minutes and lightening sky, Felix can tell that it's not a line, but a wall of people, pressing forward at an alarming rate. The closer they get, the more details Felix can see, armor and weapons and sparking magic, and they're not slowing down.

Felix reaches into his belt, tilting his neck side to side in order for his bow to elongate, arrows fitting themselves into the space around him for convenience. He lifts himself into the air along with several other archers, and it all feels so much clearer when he can see the ranks below them picking up as well, and the troops on either side of the central wing ready to pincer in at a moment's notice.

The gap between them and the enemy is swallowed whole, and all hell breaks loose.

From up here, he can pinpoint the moment where Hyunjin first clashes with an enemy soldier. He's almost beautiful, dual swords striking with swift, powerful movements and hair lifting in the wind created by his own body.

In contrast to Hyunjin's larger movements, Seungmin and Jeongin are more about finesse. Felix relaxes a little as he catches a glimpse of Seungmin with his double-sided lance, making quick work of anyone who dares get within six feet of him. Even from this far, Felix can tell there's years and years of practice and skill in every movement. As he ducks an enemy arrow, he can see Jeongin weaving in and out of bodies, twirling the dagger at the end of the chain, choking, tripping, and stabbing when they least expect it.

But as worried as Felix is about them and the others, he can't watch them forever. He lets himself scan the entire battlefield as he nocks another arrow. It's a teeming mass of bodies, and Felix can tell less and less where one ends and the next one begins.

They have to end this, and soon.

* * *

_Breathe._

There's a difference between the two armies, Jisung quickly realizes.

_In. Out._

It nags at him in the back of his mind as he sinks into a squat, faced against about six or so enemy soldiers and his _urumi_ blades held at the ready. The soldiers are rightfully wary of the long, flexible cluster of blades, but they won't stay back for long, and they can easily call for backup. As for him, anyone who gets close to him - or even himself, if he makes a mistake - can be shredded within moments by the long whiplike blade, so he'd rather no one get in the crossfire.

_Steady._

They seem to realize it too, and close in around him all at once. He doesn't have time to consider the different routes he can take, just lets his body flow on instinct, lashing out toward the right and immediately swinging the blades back around, the momentum letting the blades slice into the others clear across their little circle. He can see the bites in their flesh, not lethal but certainly painful, and tries not to feel guilty about it, his mind working overtime as he twists the blades under his leg and jumps, twirling in the air so that the blades lash out at the last group of them. Circling back around, he lunges at a couple of them who had completed the circle behind him, trying to sneak up from behind, and sweeps upward, catching their faces with sharp edges.

 _Another._

There's something almost lackluster about it, about them, and Jisung's eyes widen in realization.

They're not here because they want to be. Of course. It had been the same with the prisoners in Xafyr, the advisor who had been forced to deliver the declaration of war. Sure, they're fighting for their loved ones, the same as Jisung and the rest of the troops from their three lands. But these are just people who have something to lose, the same as them. The same as Jisung.

_Breathe._

Jisung grits his teeth, sweeping his _urumi_ out in a wide arc and feeling a little sicker as new gashes tear into clothes and skin.

This isn't right. None of this is.

But he has no idea how to stop it.

As he stands over the fallen soldiers, something tingles in his hands, a warmth spreading over them. He's felt this a million times, enough to know that the _grava_ pushing gentle but insistent against him is Chan's.

_I'll heal them all._

Jisung doesn't know if Chan meant to share that thought, but it's stark and clear. He's going to try and fix everything himself, but he'll probably use up everything he has in the process. Jisung knows what he's like when he gets this way, and he can't let Chan do that to himself.

Turning in the direction of Chan's _grava_ , he runs.

* * *

Minho is wiping hastily at a bleeding wound under his eye when he feels it.

There's a sort of warmth spreading over him that he immediately recognizes, and he curses under his breath, swiping the claws across his opponent's face and pushing himself off of them to go find Chan and stop him from doing something utterly stupid.

As he runs through the battlefield avoiding skirmishes, he lets Chan's _grava_ in, if only to send him messages through their thoughts.

_Chan._

_Chan, are you there?_

_Chan, I swear, if you're doing what I think you're doing, stop it right now._

There's no answer forthcoming, so either Chan is being flooded with messages from other sources or he's choosing to ignore Minho, or is trying to focus on a different task.

Minho grits his teeth and throws up his arms to shred an incoming flurry of arrows to bits with his claws, looking around as more _grava_ is fed into him and his vision shifts. All around him are threads and connections, building and shifting and changing. But as he'd suspected, most of them have silver within them, and it's hungry, insatiable. He focuses on the purest and thickest thread connected to him, which must be Chan's, and follows it to the other end.

Chan has chosen a spot where there are considerably less people around, a nearly empty pocket near the back of their ranks. He sits in the air, legs tucked under him as he focuses, and Minho can see where he's working through silver strands, almost wading in them. If he keeps going like this...

"Chan," he calls up to him, this time out loud. "You can't do it alone."

He should've known that Chan would pull something like this. That man is too damn selfless, and had probably thought that he would spare them and everyone the burden of helping him unravel every last silver thread there is.

But no more.

"Was he always like this?" he asks Changbin, who had appeared at his shoulder.

"Duck," Changbin answers, and Minho drops to the ground without question as Changbin stabs the attacker behind him with his trident and pitches them over his shoulder. "And to answer your question, yes, but it used to be worse, if you can imagine."

Minho stands, brushing himself off. "Guess we'll have to go change that."

They share a wry smile, and Changbin accepts Minho's offered hand as they leap into the air together, the other five rulers joining them around Chan.

Before anyone can say anything, Chan frowns, his expression pinched in concentration. Ahead of them, Minho can see why; the silver has started creeping more quickly toward Chan, clambering over itself to reach him with hungry tendrils. He physically lifts his hands, as if the action can ward them off, but his fingers curl in anguish, his arms struggling to hold themselves up and his breathing labored.

"Everyone," Minho says, and they all nod, crowding in closer around Chan as he struggles and finding a part of his back or arms to hold onto. Together, they work together to feed _grava_ back into Chan, pushing insistently at him until he accepts their combined power into himself.

Minho hopes, for all their sakes, that it's enough.

* * *

Chan feels all of their hands on him, and can't stop the tear that rolls down his cheek.

He'd taken the tough decision of course, turmoil tumbling in his heart and through his thoughts as he'd chosen to do this himself. As he'd watched the two armies clash, the sight of all the interwoven threads had been too much until he'd gotten a bit more of a bird's eye view. Even from there, the giant network of threads over the whole plain had been too overwhelming.

He couldn't let his boys feel the same sickening despair. So he'd swallowed down the trepidation and taken on the task he'd planned out in his head himself - to unravel every bit of silver from the entire battlefield.

Of course, he hadn't expected any of the rulers to hold back from finding him, but having them there brings all of the noise in his head crashing down. Who was he to do this alone? A voice in his head that he can't pinpoint as Jisung, Minho, or Changbin, echoes with the same sentiment, the soft and sweet promise that they're here. Solid. Stable.

And he feels all of them, mooring him in place, picking up the pieces of him that are crumbling, standing him upright and dusting him off. He can't fight this. He can't fight his boys, the seven of them that have traveled over mountains and rivers and deserts to heed his call, the ones that now barrel past his barriers and push back the silver in a solid wall.

There's still that single tear now clinging to the underside of his chin as he smiles, hope worming its way into his heart.

But it's not enough.

They're able to keep away the silver threads from their own connections well enough, but moving past that is the problem. No matter how much they try, the parasitic threads come at them in waves, making their efforts stick in place, like quicksand slowly building up around them. Chan can feel the panic clogging his throat, crawling its way through his insides. They can't last forever.

"The rings," Jisung manages.

Chan hadn't been aware of his eyes squeezing shut, but they fly open now as his head whips toward Jisung.

"What?"

But Changbin is nodding, and Chan already knows. Their voices chorus in his head, coupled with Sunmi's and all the Firsts of the past, and he looks down at his hand as if seeing the First's ring for the first time.

 _You will likely never have the need to use the entire power of the ring,_ she'd said, way back at the Falrun crater.

 _It feels like there's more in just this ring than the whole of Rhulsan,_ Jisung had said right after.

Chan holds out his hands, and they place their rings into his without question. They feel heavy in his palm, already gravitating toward each other, and all they need is a gentle nudge to start melding together. Chan doesn't put on the final merged ring, but he can still feel its power coursing through his body, waiting to be unleashed.

So he lets it.

There's no sudden wipe of all the silver on the field at once, but there's a gradual surge in him, more power than he knows how to handle alone. But, as he's reminded by seven strong pairs of hands pressing into him gently, he's not alone, and never had to be.

Between the eight of them, they don't bear the burden, but guide it. The magic of the ring is not like theirs, restrained within a body, but roams free, tumbles over itself and expands outward and encompasses everything and nothing at once. Both the universe and a speck of dust. But under their careful and persistent ministrations, it starts with the people just below them, wedging itself gleefully into their connections and stripping them of tainted patches of silver. It works alongside the eight of them as they pitch in, working their magic around and between it. Chan is so focused that he barely registers them moving forward as a unit, the connections behind them now pure and the connections before them challenges to surmount.

Everyone below them has a connection to someone else here, no matter how big or small. It twists at something inside Chan, the knowledge that they'd all had those connections taken over and tainted to force them into this. But it also hardens his resolve. He's reminded of why he's fighting, for both sides now instead of one.

They're met with resistance, of course. On both the magical plane and the physical, barrage after barrage of attacks target them on all sides, but everything is absorbed into the magic of the ring, of the combined _grava_ of the eight of them. Chan has never felt this much raw power coursing through his veins. He's never felt so connected to the others.

In this moment, he feels invincible.

As he slowly centers himself back into his body, he turns slightly to look over his shoulder. As they'd passed overhead, more and more soldiers had slowed to a standstill, lowered their arms, and just watched them pass. It's as though they could feel when they were no longer under the power of someone else. The fighting had simply stopped, and if Chan had to hazard a guess, it would be because they no longer had a reason to fight at all.

Now, there's a smooth web of golden threads across the entire plain, not a single silver line in sight. Now, all the people below them, regardless of their side at the start, are free.

Someone below shouts something, and suddenly the entire field is roaring in celebration, people sitting down out of sheer relief or hugging each other. Chan smiles to himself, but there's still something he has to address, though he feels himself starting to fade.

"There," Jeongin says, pointing to the ground well behind where the former enemy troops had started.

On the ground now, there kneels a man. His eyes peer out manically from behind round glasses, short black hair unkempt and clothes rumpled. Even without the pathetic wisps of silver still clinging to his clothes, Chan would know he's the one that has pulled puppet strings out of sight for their entire journey.

As he touches down on the ground, the other seven fanning out behind him and the magic of the ring subsiding back to dormant, all he asks is, "Why?"

"I would have finally united all of us," the man spits. "I, Bang Si-Hyuk, would have made my mark upon generations. But you lot - she said you would ruin it."

Chan raises an eyebrow. "And all of that, just to have it come to fruition in the end?"

There's nothing left in the man's eyes but something cold and hollow. "I was going to beat the odds. You couldn't understand."

Perhaps Chan is too giving and too optimistic for this, but he thinks that if the means and the intentions were different, they could be building something together instead. That doesn't excuse Bang Si-Hyuk's actions, though, and Chan has to make sure that all of this can't happen again.

He takes a careful step forward, then another. The man looks at him warily, and tries to take a step back, forgetting that he's kneeling and falling backward instead. Chan takes the opportunity, lunging forward and pressing his fingertips against Bang's forehead. At first, there's a battle of their subconscious, but he feels the other slowly give way, and then slump to the ground as Chan takes the last bit of his memory, his now glassy eyes staring at the clear blue sky above them.

"A fresh start," Chan says, breathing heavily. "It's more than you deserve."

Bang Si-Hyuk doesn't reply.

There's relative silence for a few moments, the only sounds the distant murmur of the former battlefield and the rustle of the grass in the wind.

"Bang Chan."

 _Uh oh,_ Chan thinks as he turns around. There's only one person that voice could possibly belong to.

Minho strides up to him with fire in his eyes, absolutely blazing in anger. Chan doesn't have time to say anything or even think _hot_ before Minho brings his hand up and suddenly there's a sharp stinging in his cheek. He blinks, then brings a hand up to touch the spot where Minho had slapped him gingerly, looking back up at the other with wide eyes.

"What was that for?" he asks numbly.

Something in Minho's eyes crumbles to dust. He reaches forward to take Chan's face between his hands instead and kisses him fiercely. Chan can taste the worry and desperation in it, everything he doesn't know how to put in words, like he could still lose Chan at any second. Chan doesn't know how else to reassure the both of them except to give as good as he gets, the relief flooding through him as he steals a few more.

"That," Minho says, eventually pulling away just enough to look him in the eyes, "was because you're an absolute, utter, and complete idiot. Never do that again."

"Yes, sir," Chan mumbles, his mind still feeling slightly fuzzy around the edges.

"Hey, no fair! I want a kiss too!"

It's Jisung, who pouts aggressively and crosses his arms. Chan can't help but laugh, still out of sheer relief, and sags against Minho.

"I'll kiss you, Jisungie!" Felix volunteers, and Jisung practically falls into his arms, everyone dissolving into chaos after that. Hyunjin carefully cradles Jeongin's cheek as he works his last dregs of _grava_ to heal their youngest, and Jisung and Felix soon turn to Seungmin, demanding hugs. Changbin, however, joins Chan and Minho, a small smile on his face.

"Minho did all the intimidating for me," he jokes, "so I'm just here to ask what now?"

Chan looks away for a moment to consider. It's overwhelming just to be alive right now, and for once, he doesn't have a plan, foresight, anything. All he knows is that he wants to stay with them, the eight of them together.

"What now?" he grins, stepping away from Minho. "We have all the time in the world to figure it out."

* * *

They celebrate in the _Bhuwyn_.

It's a night to remember, for once a party where Chan is actually enjoying himself. The _Bhuwyn_ is magical, with all the floating lights and decorations and the _soniri_ serving food and drinks. He doesn't know how he ends up losing the others in the crowd, but everyone in their three lands had been invited, and the reception halls and the courtyards are overflowing with people who insist on thanking Chan, many giving him gifts. He shies away from the attention, telling them that it had been a collective effort, but there's too many and he figures it's easier to let them think what they want.

He's conversing with one of Sana's girlfriends when Jeongin finds him, putting a hand on his arm.

"Sorry," he says, turning that wide charming smile toward her. "I just need to steal Chan."

She laughs and waves them off, Chan looking at Jeongin in confusion. "Something wrong?" He reaches out to stop Jeongin, adjusting his dark blue cape so the gold filigree doesn't catch on anything.

"Does something have to be wrong for me to call you?" Jeongin only pauses long enough to let Chan fuss, then impatiently grabs his wrist and pulls him along.

"My bad," Chan chuckles, curiosity piqued now. "Please, lead the way."

Jeongin leads him toward the side doors and through another hallway or two before they come to a set of glass doors to the outside. They emerge onto a large balcony, a beautiful railing around the circular edge. There are still floating lights here, illuminating the rushing water that extends out from underneath the balcony and disappears over the edge of a waterfall and the ring of low couches, and most importantly, of course, the six other faces that light up as he falters to a stop.

"Come sit down," Seungmin says warmly as Jeongin goes to sit next to Hyunjin, who immediately puts an arm around him.

They've left a space for Chan between Jisung and Felix, and he settles in, smiling in contentment. It feels even more complete, with all of them sitting together. Something settles in his chest, and he smiles as Felix hooks a leg over one of his.

"Well? What's the occasion then?" Chan jokes.

"We can't just be gay and have a good time?" Minho asks, leaning into Jisung's side as his hand rests on Seungmin's thigh.

Chan laughs. "When you all pulled me away from the party to be here specifically?"

"Seriously though," Hyunjin says. "That was mostly it. We just wanted you to ourselves."

"And to also make sure we were welcome here and in Rhulsan and Xafyr," Felix blurts, eyes round and anxious. "Because after being afraid I would lose you all I want to see you as often as possible."

Chan blinks. "I thought that was a given?"

"Some of us need verbal confirmation," Jeongin says, but even across their little circle, Chan can see his shoulders slumping a little in relief.

"Then confirmation you have," Chan says, and adds, "That's something I want too."

Jisung moves first, throwing his arms around Chan and almost dropping Minho, but soon Minho's joining them, and everyone else tries to as well, crowding in to smother Chan in a hug. The entire couch topples over backward, but they all shout and giggle as they go with it, somehow ending up in a bigger mess on the balcony floor.

"My dearest, loveliest boys," Chan says, unable to stop laughing. "You're crushing me."

"That's because you owe your boys cuddles," Changbin says from somewhere in the pile. "We're just here to collect."

Of course, Chan doesn't want to stop them at all. He holds them close, watching the golden threads between them flare bright and warm, and lets the contented feeling in his chest grow, strong and steady.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you're wondering, the boys alternate weeks at each "castle" from here on out.
> 
> Thank you for making it all the way here, dear reader. I hope you've enjoyed this as much as I've enjoyed writing it. 
> 
> Stay safe and healthy everyone, and support social justice. Until next fic.~


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